Last Man standing
by BronzeParadox
Summary: Human AU. Rated M just encase. Can this rag-tag group survive or will raising tempers, dwindling supplies and clashing personalities rip them apart from the inside out faster then the virus can?
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, I am doing the NaNoWritMo challenge. One novel (approximately 50,000 words) in one month. NaNoWritMo (National Novel Writing Month) is just to get the very first draft done but I am cleaning this up a bit before posting so please forgive me if things don't flow smoothly. This is just a first draft. That being said I will post once a week after some editing is done and if I'm lucky I will have the beginnings of a novel by the 31st. Not that I could publish it but it's good practice.

Now this is a fanfic based on the tmnt but for legal reason I changed out their names. Insert general disclaimer (that I'm not even sure would work in court) here: I own nothing, I don't work for nor am I affiliated in anyway with anything or anybody that owns tmnt. OC's are mine.

1: A: The beginning of the end. 10 years ago

A grubby hand balls up into a fist, an exasperated sigh turns into a lecture. Scared eyes cry, not understanding why. Desperate times calls for desperate measures mamma. She's on that computer for days before making another appointment.

"Hello" Shes smiles at the little boy holding the door open for her. He flashes a shy smile back, tiny gap showing in his teeth. "I am looking for Mr. Harlan, we have an appointment" He waves her into the waiting room.

Another boy appears beside her, he seems to be older but the same high as the first one. He smiles but there is no gap between the teeth. "Hello, you must be Mrs. Hudson" He's just a boy, not much older then her own, but he holds himself with a quite confidence. "Father is waiting for you"

"I am sorry to keep you waiting" A glance at the clock shows there only 5 minutes late. "Ryan hid Mathews shoes again" She falters in her steps as the man behind the desk stands up. The family resemblance is amazing between the father and two sons. They all have brown hair, chocolate eyes, a slight tan that says out door fun in the sun.

"It is quit alright Mrs. Hudson" He greets her with a warm smile and she feels better already. "Boys can be a handful at the best of times"

She stifles a laugh at this. "That is an understatement for mine I fear"

Ryan pokes the younger boy in the face, adopting that stance he has. He's about to cause trouble "Hey bugs bunny"

"Ryan! You apologies for that right now!" She feels her face flush up, he couldn't even go 5 minutes. "I am so sorry Mrs. Harlan, Ryan is a good boy"

He holds a hand up and she fears they will be kicked out again. "There is no need to apologies Mrs. Hudson. Little Ryan's attempts to push buttons for a reaction is unlikely to work here"

Her son puffs up his chest, stomping his way up them. "I anti little!"

"To me you are" Mr. Harlan leans back in his chair, a hand waves by his face as something moves behind her. "You are untrained and no real threat to anyone, body size alone isn't enough to win a fight"

"Oh yaa? I can take anyone down, bring it old man!" Ryan beats his own chest as Mrs. Hudson goes red in the face

"It is fine Mrs. Hudson, I have had many misplace their angry on me. I will not fight you child for that is not what you wish to do. Tell me where did all this pent up energy come from?" She looks to her youngest playing in the corner, then feels her face fall as Ryan stomps over and kicks his brothers toys away. Mathew starts crying and Ryan laughs while pointing at him. Calm as ever he taps a hand on his desk to get the younger man's attention. "Ryan, do you know when you point a finger at someone, you are only pointing three back at your self?" Ryan looks at him, down at his own hand then waves it away despite seeing the evidence for himself. "Ryan, Mathew why don't you go play in the dojo while the adults have the boring conversation? My sons Lucas and Darin can show you around." Lucas pleads with his eyes while Darin's shoulders drop but Ryan and Mathew agree to it. "Lucas show Ryan the rock climbing wall, Darin why don't you take Mathew to the mats?" The four are off.

She stumbles for the right words "Lucas...Ryan can be, aggressive at times..."

"Lucas can hold his own I assure you and Darin can calm even the most, aggressive, of children and most adults down. I assure you Mrs. Hudson the boys will be fine." He waves a hand to a seat in front of him watching her habitually push a stray blond lock behind her ear. Dainty is the best word that comes to mind when he looks at the stunning woman in front of him. "Was Mr. Hudson unavailable today?"

"No, Mr. Hudson passed away a few years ago and shortly after that is when Ryan started to developed his current... unpleasant, point of view on the world"

"My deepest sympathy for your loss than, but it does explain his behavior. It can happen to the best of children with the loss of an important figure head in their lives, he was close to his father then?"

"Very, Mathew barley knew his father so he seems to have had a better time adjusting"

"Hmmm, I believe Mathew may disagree with that statement." He points out the large window over looking the mats where Mathew is crying again, yelling at his brother who holds Lucas in a head lock. She jumps up gasping at this to witch he places a hand on her arm. "It is fine Mrs. Hudson, Lucas will untangle them, Darin will calm Mathew down and Ryan can go back to enjoying the rock wall." True to his word Lucas ends up slipping out of Ryan's grasp and in one smooth move finishes putting the harness on him. Darin distracts Mathew with a rubber practice weapon, who promptly wants to try it after Darin hits himself in the head with one end. She looks back to see Lucas racing Ryan up the rock wall in the far corner and she feels lighter. For that is the first time in almost two years that Ryan has a smile on his face. "It would seem Mathew is in need of a more stable environment and Ryan needs to work a few things out on his own"

"Oh if they can be equal your sons in any kind of time frame where do I sign?" She turns back around with a smile on her face and he feels his heart skip a beat. "Mrs. Harlan must be so proud of your boys and their skills already"

"Indeed, Mrs. Harlan would be very proud of our sons. But that skill set was hard earned when she became ill 5 years ago and passed away a few short months later. We too, know the sting of loss. We got through ours, you too shall get thou yours"

"I am sorry for your loss. It is good to know time heals wounds, now how long till I can get my sweet Ryan back?"

"I am afraid that Ryan will never be the same, but we can show him how to control and even harness his energy into more productive things. Just as I showed Darin how to channel his pent up anger. Mathew could benefit as well, we could show him how to be his own stable rock in the ragging sea of life. Much like how Lucas had to learn to be more confident in his own abilities" He chuckled at the look she was giving him. "Yes even Lucas had to learn to keep his cool, it is how they can connect with and help so many others experiencing similar emotions."

"Well if it can work out for your boys then mine have a chance too? So what happens in a dojo anyway?"

"Well I run my dojo a bit different then most, thank to Mrs. Harlan." He pulls a few sheets out as the boys gather around a sectioned off area.

Lucas looks up, the adults are busy with paper work so he ushers them inside even as Darin points out the potential consequences of their actions to which Mathew simply says. "Then keep an eye out"

"Besides Darin, dad said to show them around" Lucas darts his eyes up, there still busy looking at paperwork. "And who wouldn't want to try these some day?" He pulls a key lanyard out of his pocket and searches for the right key

"Dad said not to open that case up without him, these are really dangerous Luc"

"Come on D, a look wont hurt anyone" Lucas peeks up again before unlocking the case.

Dark ornate wooden doors open, revealing several weapons strapped and tied down. The boys eyes, even Darin's light up. They looked like so much fun but even Ryan wouldn't move forwards to get a closer look. Something about them said proceed with cation even as it screamed how cool would I be to wield? "Luc" Darin spots the car lights bounce off the walls. Lucas jumps forwards to lock the cabin up again but it's too late.

"Boys" Mr. Harlan crosses his arms and Lucas can already feel the pain of having to polish all the wood again for the punishment coming.

"Way to keep an eye out Darin!" Ryan snaps at the boy, smacking him upside the head as soft as possible.

Mathew breaks out the tears as his mothers eye twitches, oh they done it now. "We didn't touch them!"

"We can see that, Lucas, I gave you those keys for safe keeping not for showing off"

"Sorry father" Lucas bows his head feeling his face flush up, it makes Ryan mad.

Not that Ryan understands why he's mad, but he gets up the guys face who seems unfazed by his angry. "Whatever, he was just showing us some old stuff"

"Those are weapons that have been handed down from my father to me and one day will passed onto Lucas..."

"Why doesn't' Darin get one?" Mathew peeked up through un-shed tears

"Because they are a set, to give them out individual I would need four students that I feel are worthy of them, so far no set of friends have proven this to me yet.."

"so why does Lucas get them?" Ryan shifted his weight to one side, chin up.

"Because he is the oldest..."

"So? Why can't Darin get them?"

"Because that is not how tradition goes.."

"Why?" Ryan shoots off before he can finish answering Mathew

"Because that is how tradition works, the oldest son..."

"That's bull shit" Their heads turn to see a raven hair girl defiantly standing in the dojo.

Lucas points at her feet. "Shoes are not allowed in the dojo!"

"Kandace, langue. Sorry if we are interrupting anything, my name is Orlando Sabb" Another man stands in the doorway, black suite screaming expensive, black hair perfectly in place and green eyes impatient. "Kandace has been kicked out of 6 dojos for her less then lady like manners, thou I'm not sure where she is learning it. Your website says you are good with trouble children"

"Boys" Lucas, Darin, Ryan and Mathew jump at his tone. "Show Kandace around please. while I don't recall using that phrasing, yes we have helped many children better understand themselves over the years"

"Excellent, I wish to enroll my daughter but I didn't see any private lesson options online" He snaps his wrist around to look at the time as his phone goes off he chooses to ignore the number after looking at it.

"There are no private lessons available in my dojo. Twice a month for three hours on select Sundays all new students are assessed while interacting with other students. To best decide which class they are in need of, we do take personal preference into account. I need to see how they interact with others and what their skills leaves are at already"

"She has a green belt from the dojo on 3rd and main"

"Maybe, but the dojo on the 3rd and main teaches a different style then me, her obi color basically means nothing here. That is why I assets their skill leaves, till I see what she knows I can't accurately place her in any class, just as you wouldn't assign a job to a student that has no experiences I would never place a student into a class I didn't believe they could handle"

"She doesn't play well with others"

"We have one this Sunday and I think she is playing well with others right now." He steps to the side to show all the kids tossing a dodge ball around, when Mathew gets nailed in the head Kandace helps him back up while Darin sees to his head wound. "Mathew likes to up play his injuries for additional attention, Ryan brushes his off to seem stronger, Kandace appears to need more social interaction with others since she appears to be missing some key social clues." They watch her ignore Lucas while pushing Ryan about something. Ryan pushes back and Kandace try's to take him down only for Lucas to get in her way, they roll across the mats but Lucas ends up winning as Ryan cheers him on.

"Oh, can I learn that move too!" Ryan bounces with joy pleading with his mother

"Oh no way am I being taken down by a boy!" Kandcae doubles her efforts and hold Lucas in an arm lock

"Darin"

Darin shakes his head at this. "Dad would shoot me for tag teaming like that"

"No, move Darin" Lucas dead lifts them both off the floor, arm shaking with the weight on it. Darin dives out of the way taking Mathew with him. Ryan cheers him on as Kandace goes head over feet, tumbling across the floor when Lucas frees himself from her hold while tossing her away from him.

She jumps shooting in joy. "Oh daddy please!" She doesn't wait, just jumps back at Lucas and lands on Ryan as well. Mathew and Darin scream dog pile landing on them all. Lucas try's to dead lift them again but cant do it, until Ryan helps. This causes the others to fall over and they burst into giggles at themselves.

"Very well, see you next Sunday then" He pauses to hand his hand over to Mrs. Hudson. "Four sons, you are a luck man. My wife was told she couldn't have anymore, so one daughter it is"

"Oh!" Mrs. Hudson turns bright red. "Oh, no only two are mine"

"Mrs. Hudson was a few minutes late for her appointment, Ryan and Mathew are her sons. Lucas and Darin are mine"

"Oh!" Mr. Sabb shuffles his feet. "My apologies, I did not mean to interrupt your appointment, my assistant did not tell me that I needed one"

"It is fine, we were almost done anyway and you got a few answers for me"

"Walk-ins are always welcome as well"

"Right, Sunday then" Mr. Sabbs phone goes off again. "Kandace dear we need to get going, your mother is looking for us and were late for supper"

"But dad..."

"Now, you are coming back on Sunday for an assessment. It was a pleasure meeting you both, if you'll excuses me" He nods as he walks out the door holding a phone to his ear.

"Assessment?" Kandace pauses to look at the other boys, she hasn't been in a dojo for almost a year now.

"It's no biggie' Lucas waved it off. "Just do your best and have fun. It will be like we are playing games, races, tumbling, more rock climbing, stuff like that" Lucas smiles at the pretty girl.

"OK" Kandace slaps him on the shoulder leaving a red mark. "I'll be back to kick your ass on Sunday then"

"Oh bring it"

Ryan makes a gagging noise as she leaves. "Girls have coddies"

"They have germs just like everybody else, coddies are not even a real thing" Darin rolls his eyes before screaming out as Ryan tackles him.

"Boys" Mrs. Hudson calls out. "Come on, its almost your bed time we will be back on Sunday OK, Ryan what have I told you about tackling people." Once again exasperated with her son's shenanigans they take their leave and Mrs. Harlan has a good feeling about them.


	2. Chapter 2

Present day

Ryan won't lie, it stung when his mom married again and he found himself as second oldest son in the house. But he wouldn't trade a day away of the last 10 years for anything. Sure Lucas was annoying and demanding of him but he helped keep Matt occupied. And yes it stung again when he needed to ask his new younger brother for help with his school work but they worked out a system. Darin helped him with his homework and he keep the bully's back from making fun of his unusually tall with a gap in his teeth still brainy bro... with his fist. The old man was right. Sheer size alone wasn't enough to win most fights but high school bully's were wimps, most of them anyway. Looking at all the muscles he had put on over the years was enough to make them back down.

Yes it was senior year for him and Lucas and they ruled these hallways. He was a sport star in the school and tons of football teams where scooting him but he enjoyed hockey the most. He had died his hair as black as he could a few years ago, he was informed it went better with his darker shade of skin. While his mother gave him blond hair he got his dads coloring and it didn't quite work, then for fun he added contacts that turned his eyes blood red. Lucas was on the honor role elite list and grabbing the valedictorian too, he was currently working on his speech. He was like a younger version of his dad, but then again Darin didn't fall too far from the tree either. Lucas at least had the good sense to stay within normal parameters, Darin went all tall and lanky providing a perfect target for the school bullies. Well until he came knocking on their doors. Now Mathew was the class clown, but most ignored him with three older brothers looking out for him, and those that didn't learned fast to not mess with him. Mathew was a blond hair blue eyed white boy who would have to hold his own, like Darin next year but something about being a senior made you feel invincible. These days he was living it up. Steady job, good grades, sweet woman by his side. Social life was rockin' thanks to the boys on the hockey team, where he meet his best friend Crispin. Crispin introduced him to some chick named Amelia who later became Crispin's girlfriend. Well Amelia introduced him to his lady luck, Yvonne, who he was oh so lucky to ask out on a date a few years ago. Better yet she said yes. Then Nelle sprung up on them out of no where, She walked into their dojo with a black eye two years ago. It took all of 3 months of her hanging around to get dork face Lucas to break up with Kandace and only another 6 months after that to spot them on a date. Lucas was better off with Nelle and she brought with her another girl named Aniasa. If Darin didn't ask her out on a real date soon she was gonna slip through his fingers. The world is a small place, even here in the big city. Well his lady luck signed up for one of those big brother big sister programs and meet up with a young girl named Sky. Well turns out Sky knew Nelle and next thing he knew Mathew was studding harder to get better grades in school, then he was supper focused on getting his drivers licence and he even got a job. He chuckled to himself, watching his baby bro get all dressed up after asking Sky to their middle of the year school dance was great. Step dad's rules, you have a car, you have a job. Then when you can show her a good night out on the town, then and only then can you date her. Or him if that was your thing. Yaa his step dad was chill about a lot of this new stuff coming out but was more than a little happy that all his sons liked girls. Adopted or real. He felt as thou Lucas might have been under more stress then the rest on this front, being the oldest son. OK, maybe he wasn't as mad at losing that title as he first thought. After the debacle with Kandace's dad about the breakup there was some stress in Luc that he never liked seeing. You see good ol' dad of hers threatened to have their dojo shut down if Lucas didn't reconsider, seems they had grown fond of him over the years, but Kandace made him back down. Just in time too cuz it looked like Lucas was about to agree to it to save them all the headache. He tried to reason with the old man, forcing someone into a relationship wasn't healthy for anyone, this was counter with "Traditional" marriages bla bla bla. He should have brought Darin with him for that chat cuz he was way out of his league with a business man.

All in all it worked out in the end, Lucas had started to relax, like how he was back when they where kids. He wasn't as, aggressive like his mom had wanted. Darin was coming out of his shell once more, puberty took too many pot shots at the poor guy and Mathew... well he was Mathew. He watched his baby bro's blond hair bounce down the hallways trying for a sneak attack on Lucas again. 10 years buddy and you've never gotten him. Still he gave him an E for effort, Mathew was tenacious is nothing else. He watched Lucas shift to the side as Darin shifted to the other side and opened his locker as Mathew ponced. The two shifted again out of reach and he got to watch Mathew plink-o between the two lockers. It made a ton of noise but this being an inner city public run school nobody came looking. He walked up to the smooth low ton of Darin talking to the higher pitched Mathew and the ever stock almost mono toned Lucas telling them off. Somewhere along the line he had gone deep like his biological father. "Hey, what's the plan for tonight?"

"Practice" Lucas answered him, eyes narrowing already. "Why?"

Darin shoved another book in his bag, how many did the dude need? "He wants to skip again"

"But" Mathew looked around at them. "But I had plans with Sky"

Darin rolled his eyes at this "And you always have plans with Sky"

"Just wondering, I'm sure coach wont mind me missing again" He rolled his shoulders

"No" Lucas let one of his extra exasperated sighs out. "It's practice or practice and our's is extra, go play on ice with your buddies I'll explain it."

"And?" Mathew pulled out his biggest puppy eye looks.

Lucas caved after a moment. "Fine I'll figure something out, at least Darin isn't skipping"

"Well..." They all watched him grab another book out of his locker. Ryan was debating if he should inquire about the black hole that seemed to be trapped inside Darin's locker. "I am heading down to the university for some extra credits"

Mathew snorted at him. "You have enough credits to graduate... last year, the only reason you haven't is because you keep putting off fast tracking through this hell hole for some reason."

Darin's face sourced at a thought. "University cost money and I don't have enough saved up yet, plus if I can help solve something I may earn myself a free class of my choosing"

"OK, I'll bite" Lucas closed Darin's locker when he was busy putting a book into his bag. "What is it that you are hoping to help solve?"

"It's nothing to worry about..."

"I gotta tell dad something if your wanting me to cover for you"

Nelle's nibble fingers danced a crossed Lucas's arm, temporarily distracting him. "Darin's going to the university tonight?" They nodded a yes at her. "Then take care of Anissa for me OK" Darin nodded an agreement with her. "And you better be staying behind that safety glass as well"

"Safety glass?" All three brothers turned to look at Darin who avoiding the eye contact. Finally Lucas narrowed his eyes at Darin before asking. "And why would you have to be behind safety glass?"

"It's nothing..."

Nelle cut him off despite his desperate hand signals to stop. "And bio suited up with guards and cops to help in the event that the infected their going to be working on escapes." She glared a hole in his chest as he glared one back at her. "At least Anissa had the guts to tell me what she was walking into"

"Dude" Mathew poked him in the shoulder. "She's not talking about one of those infected people from DC is she? Cuz they be crazy"

Darin all but places a hand on Nelle's mouth pleading with her to stop talking. "They are sick, I'm observing one in a perfectly secure area. They wouldn't invite high school students if they thought we would be at risk"

"Darin" Lucas grabs his bag full of books. "The infected from DC attack with the intent to kill, no way dad's going to be OK with that"

"Free course for staring at someone for a few hours, I already agreed and signed the papers"

"Your not 18, you can't sign your own waver forms yet" Ryan went to wipe the sweat off his face but stopped when Lucas face palmed himself.

"Dad signed the papers saying Darin could sign his own waver forms for school related subjects."

Ryan felt his blood boil at this. "What? He wouldn't sign my papers"

"Because the school's hockey team was always trying to take you to out of town games and your grades where suffering." Lucas waved this away and Ryan narrowed his eyes at him.

Mathew pouted at them."Dad didn't sign my papers"

"That's because you like to skip class" Even Ryan gave him a hard stare for this.

"Anissa is going so am I" Darin finally reffed on his bag enough to get it back from Lucas before glaring at Nelle for outing him like that. He half stomped away from them but straightened out and walked better when Anissa came around a corner.

"Dad's going to be livid with all of you" Lucas rubbed at his temples when he turned around and the others where already gone. "They left when I was glaring after Darin didn't they?" He looked down at Nelle still attached to his side.

She sounded distant to him "Ya" Her lips pulled up, eyes scrunched forwards. She tightened her hold for a moment before detaching herself, still almost hovered right there making it more awkward for him to finish getting his stuff.

"Darin's right, if they thought it was dangerous they wouldn't involve high school students"

"Then why make them sign a waver form that included things like your family can't sue us if anything goes wrong?"

"To cover their behinds, governments are fanatical about that kinda stuff"

They walked out heading towards his old junker of a car, it didn't look all that good but Darin and Ryan kept it in good working order. Nelle came to the extra practice like always. She was always staying longer and joining at ever chance she could, anything to help her caught up to the others. He didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't going to happen, he had a decade of training that she would forever be behind on. But she studied hard and asked for clarifications and double checked that she was doing everything right. She was trying, really trying and he appreciated the effort she was putting into her martial arts studies. Back at the dojo dad was not impressed but let it go. It was an optional class so he let them have free rain when no one else showed up, taking the time to enjoy some tea. Lucas stared at the door after supper till Darin came home, well after 10. He had lost a mother, he never wanted to feel that pain again. His step mom sat beside him, equally staring the door down. The others came out of the wood work within seconds of him walking in through the back door. Groups hugs and greeting, a few things about how boring it was and a fast light supper before everyone went to bed.

The next day at lunch was the first time he saw Anissa, and while Darin had said it was boring Lucas was looking for a second option. He plunked down at their seat. The same seat he saved for them every lunch for the last four years. It had started out as five, moved down to four then increased to 10 over the second and third year. It was the most tactically sound table in the room. He could watch both ways in and out of the cafeteria, it was slightly isolated from the rest but not truly backed into a corner. Most didn't like it because it was so far from the only microwave available to some 700 students so most left them too it. He watched Mathew pay for lunch. Yvonne headed or the microwave, senior statues invoked to get to the front, she only need 30 seconds to warm up her coffee. Most of the students didn't blink an eye lash at this. Some of them would be taking up to 4 minutes so let her pass because it was no skin off their backs to wait for a coffee warm up. Darin plunked down beside him and proceed to stuff his face. Anissa stood in line waiting to pay as Mathew and Sky took up a seat on the other side of the table. Nelle was late to the show and almost toppled her pile of books, some freshman helped her before he could move to do so. He chuckled to himself when the poor guy's face flushed, yaa Nelle was something to behold. Flowing blond hair down to her butt, the clearest bright blue eyes sparkled. She was dainty like a dancer, and unfortunately that seemed to make her a walking target for scum that thought she was an easy target. Two years into her training at the dojo saw vast improvements, but it wasn't enough to let his guard down yet. There is a massive difference between a controlled environment where no one means you harm and the outside world that does. On the mats you can train to be 100% effective but the second anyone, even a master of their arts is placed into a real fight, especial if its the first real one, about 60% of that training goes out the window as your brain floods your system with chemicals. This is called the flight or fight response and the average person doesn't want to hurt other people. So when faced with danger most people will take the flight response to get away from the threat, self preservation for the win.

Amelia plunk down beside him and proceeded to tell them all about the test subjects. Finally Mathew proclaimed it the Zombie Threat 115 virus after finally hearing the description of the infected. Matted hair, dirt covered faces, ripped clothing. They didn't seem to care about their appearance, there was no attempt at personal hygiene. So teeth were starting to rot, cheeks were concave in while stomachs protruded out. Any skin abrasions, burns and other such medical concerns, even broken bones were ignored even if they would be causing great pain or impede their progress or movement.

"Its not a zombie Mathew" Darin flailed his arms about. "Zombies are a scientific impossibility. Once something is dead it can not be brought back to life"

"Then why does this so called virus have a letter Z, as in Z for Zombie in its name? Hmmmm?" Mathew leaned forward with raised eyebrows and big baby blues awaiting an answer.

"The letters are not random, they have a legitimate reason to be there, something that you wouldn't understand. It is a virus, a rapidly mutating virus, that's why it's so hard to pin down a cure for it. Its like cancer, once it hits a certain stage the old medication doesn't work anymore and more extreme measures are needed"

"How extreme are we talking?" Lucas leans against the table resisting the urge to rub at his growing headache.

"The first patients won't be saved. They have gone past the point of no return and were… put to sleep"

"You mean killed?" Nelle didn't like that idea at all. She shifted in her spot, with a practiced flourish she tossed her hair back over her shoulder.

"The virus had done too much damage to their brains, they weren't going to live much longer anyway. It seemed more humane to put them to sleep and let them pass rather then slowly rotting to death, that could have taken days to weeks still" Darin violently shivered remembering the pictures of one of the very first victims.

"Ha! Rotting to death, so they are zombies!" Mathew jumps up to do a victory dance.

"No there not zombies!" Darin slams his hand down on the table. "For the last time they are sick with a particularly nasty virus. Because the sick people won't eat for whatever reason their bodies are dying. They managed to draw out some nutrients after chewing on a new victim but they are not the living dead so they can't be zombies!"

"Dude, everyone knows the living dead are vampires, zombies are the undead" Mathew rolls his eyes, how could Darin get the two mixed up?

"Don't forget ghouls, there undead as well" Sky slinks into a tight spot between Mathew and Darin

"And ghost too" Nelle adds for some reason.

"Ghost aren't undead, nor are they the living dead. They are dead, their souls that haven't moved and are haunt the living." Mathew playfully bits at Sky's nose making her jump away crashing into Darin

"So why do they throw things around when they get mad?" Ryan pushes Darin closer to everyone else to make room for himself.

"That's not a ghost, ghost can't hurt you, just scare the crap out of you. A poltergeist is an angry vengeful ghost like spectrum that throws things around" Sky answers again shoving Darin back closer to Ryan. "Make some room will you guys I want to sit with Mathew not start melding into one with him"

"Talk to Ryan then, there's a whole other side why did you sit beside me?" Darin finally complains pushing his elbows out into the others.

"So crazy doesn't take Anissa's spot, stop poking me with your stick elbows already." Ryan nods his head towards the front of the lunch line were another girl is switching between creepily starring at Darin and trying to kill Anissa with imaginary eye lasers.

"Oh Chloe is mad I picked Anissa as my lab partner instead of her for the extra assignment dealing with the zombi…. God damn it, the infected"

"Admit it!" Mathew try's to do a side way lung at Darin and only Ryan sitting at the very end of the crappy cafeteria bench stops them from going over.

Sky gets pinched in the process. "Ouch! Bea watch what your doing I still hurt from … that new trick you where showing me yesterday"

Lucas half yells at him in warning. "Mathew!"

"Now you've gone and done it!" Darin half sits in Ryan's lap to avoid the back lash, at least until Ryan pushes him away.

Mathew shrinks in on himself. "I wasn't being bad!"

"From what I hear you weren't being good either" Yvonne takes up two seats while Anissa pays for her lunch. "Crazy isn't staring a whole into Darin's head anymore." She pats the seat beside her.

"Thank goodness. My lap is not a safe space for you to hide in," Ryan shoves Darin's head towards the table but it doesn't connect. "If you did nothing wrong then … what did you do?" Ryan narrows his eyes as Lucas switches his attention to Darin, they know full well Mathew would never cross that last line, his fear of Sky's parents never mind his own keeps him in check.

"You didn't tell them did you" Anissa slides in beside Darin as close as she can. Pale even for her.

Lucas leers over them both. "Tell us what?"

Darin yelps out "Its nothing!"

Anissa rolls her eyes. "The would be zombie tried to escape." Darin groans before curling up as Lucas grinds his teeth together clenching one hand into a fist "Darin hit her over the head and got her strapped down before she could do any more harm" Ryan raises out of his seat, his rage simmering below the surface twisting his face up "Then finally gave her some drugs to keep her sedated so we can work on her some more." Even Mathew looks mad, he stares at Darin with a hurt expression, set shoulders and a stiff back.

Lucas's tone drops several octaves in anger. "I thought you said you would be behind steel reinforce safety glass"

"We were, then we had to get samples, can't do that behind the glass. She was docile, just standing in her room not looking at anything in particular so we thought it would be OK to approach her." Darin fires off an unhappy glare at Anissa first. " Only after someone entered the room did she do anything at all, and only when one of the unsuited guards came in." with Lucas's eye tick going already Darin gives up and tells all. "With just me in there she was fine. She didn't even pay attention to me, just went after the guard. It's like I didn't even exist"

"Yaa until your gear got in the way and you took your glove off, then she tried to eat your hand." Anissa ignores Darin's protest

"You are not helping me right now"

Anissa keeps going as if nothing is wrong. "I think their sense of smell is greeter, with the suit on she couldn't smell you, she saw you, looked right at you but didn't care much until there was exposed skin."

Darin might ordinary find it humorous when his brothers grouped up on each other but he didn't like it when all three of them were burning holes in his brain.

Ryan pulled away first looking dejected. "You said you wouldn't remove the equipment at all"

Lucas guilty trips him next. "You said it would be safe"

"Not cool bro" Mathew turns away from him with arms crossed.

"Three credits just for showing up" There not listening to him anymore. "A free class already" Nothing, not even a glance at him, Yvonne is apprehensive, trying to get Ryan to calm down. A distraught Nelle is feverish trying to help Lucas get his ragged breathing under control. A tense looking Sky rubs soothing circles along a dismayed looking Mathew's shoulders. Anissa finally figures it out and puts her fork down before eating anything.

"You should have seen it" Lucas side glances back at her. "He sprang into action before the guards even knew anything was wrong" Mathew peeks over his shoulder. "Strong armed the girl off the first guard and had her pinned to the floor splayed out under him unable to do anything." Ryan's eyes swing towards them. " I think sensei would have been proud of the quick reflexes, perfectly executed flip and roll away and neatly done full body pin. He even had her head and jaw under control so the first guard could back up and let the next two help Darin cuff her arms and get her strapped onto a table." Lucas relaxes a bit first, Mathew finally turns back around to face everyone. "She lunged at that guards neck, fingers posed like dagger's and mouth open like a snake, I'm positive Darin saved his life. That poor guard was sent home he was shaking so hard from shock and a minor scratch down his arm. The second and third guard wanted to put her down right then but Darin convinced them to let her keep living. He then earned his free class by suggesting the sedative. If his air born theory is right then he gets a year for free, in his first hour there he did more than the other two city's did in a month. Let Darin work his magic, you know he's got the skills to keep himself and others safe." Anissa rubs Darin's arm who is currently smiling at her.

"Your right" Mathew gives Sky a peck on the check. "We should have more faith in Darin"

Ryan grumbles but Darin takes it, it's probably the best they'll get out of him. Lucas sighs as if he's suffered for a million years. "Just be careful OK and call if you need help"

"If I'm calling you at the University then it's to tell you to get the hell outta dodge because the infected has escaped. And escaping from this island before the bridges are closed needs to happen fast or you'll all get stuck in a living hell until someone figures out what's going on." Darin takes Anissa's hands into his own. "Look we're not supposed to say anything or I would have mentioned it last night. Don't go straight home after school. Go stock up on bottled water and canned goods. Like buy a store or three out. If we can't figure out what's happening to these people or an infected escape... an out break will have a larger death toll then the black plague did." Anissa looks terrified with her eyes scrunched up tight and arms shaking slightly. Darin rubs soothing circles on her back but doesn't look much better. "Some of that footage from the other city's is the stuff of horror movies. Mathew, they do act like zombies."

Anissa violently shivers "They attack anyone not effected, open and exposed skin draws them in like a moth to a flame." she grips Darin's hands and practically sits in his lap. "I told my parents to leave the city last night, to take the boat and just get away for as long as they can. They said you where all welcomed to join them, there leaving today after work for 3 months, the longest my dad can be away from work"

"Really think it's that bad?" Yvonne wiggles in closer to Ryan.

"It was terrifying to watch the footage. I'm not joking, get go bags ready and leave them in your cars with as much food as you can store in them. Set a rally point to meet up, and if we say run, we mean run because your lives are in grave danger." Darin looks scared and it sets them all on edge.

Ryan places a palm down on the table quietly getting all their attention. "Your running with us, nobody gets left behind."

"I will try but to be honest I am the only one willing to get close to the subject"

Anissa narrows her eyes at him. "Because you threatened to chain me to the desk if I get out of it"

"And I will toss you out that window if I think it's necessary. Being that close I am most likely to get infected first, gear or not." Darin takes a moment to calm his nerves. "Odds are good it's Anissa calling you not me. Should I think for a Nano second that I'm not safe I won't step out of that containment room until someone can prove beyond a doubt that I'm OK to do so"

"Don't go back, please it would kill father if he lost one of us" Lucas pleads. "We'd never be OK again without you"

"I can't, I'm sorry but someone has to solve this"

"Anissa" Mathew taps her arm to get her attention. "Zombies pass their virus along by tearing flesh and mixing body fluids like spit and blood. If this affects the brain maybe you should be looking into the blood work of these sick people."

"That is an excellent idea, we will look into that too" Anissa files the idea away for tonight

"Hey if its hard to pin down and cure shouldn't you be starting from a freshly infected person?" Yvonne tosses the idea out there.

"And who is going to volunteer for that? The best we got is her, at a few weeks along into her infection, less then a month but not by much" Darin sighs this time. "I may have bitten off more than I wish to deal with. One of the students bailed, said he wasn't coming back, I bet him and his parents were long gone by this morning. Running won't do us any good long term but it's better then laying down and dying."

"I have faith, if anyone can figure this out its you" Lucas finally pulls Nelle to him, holding her close for the remaining lunch hour.

The school bell rings startling them all out of their daze's. "Back to class and try not to cause a panic OK" Darin points his look at Mathew. "If this school empties of its students population a day after we can be tried for causing mass panic and hysteria. Or worse, treason"

"That's not right we should be able to warn the others" Mathew watches a few students go by before exiting the cafeteria.

"If they freak out, and the majority of them will, it can cause riots to start in the street. That would only make it harder for the authorities to do their job putting even more people at risk" Anissa points out for him. "Lay low for now, let people see you loading up on supplies. Like blatantly loading up on it, it'll get the gears turning and hopefully a few will think to do the same"

"Random notes starting next week advising some to seek a bunker for a while can help get others out but we have to be careful. Methodical and logical about this" Lucas gets to thinking of a plan.

"And unfortunately selective as well. If we tip the wrong person off then what we're trying to avoid will only happen faster." Darin nods as he pulls a book from his locker and stuffs it in Lucas open bag. "Encase I don't make it out"

"That's not an option"

"It might not be an option. My notes so fair" With that Darin walks down the hallway away from them half dragging Anissa behind him.


	3. Chapter 3

Bad news.

"Please don't be mad or slam the door in my face" Lucas braced his foot, forcefully keeping the door open. If she pushed it he would let it slam in his face. "This is important. You know about those extra credits offered up to the top science and biology students in school right?"

Kandace nods at this still half turned away from him. "I can't believe they let Amelia in on the secret project but I wasn't. As if I have better grades then her" Kandace lets the door go, if Lucas really wanted to he could just force his way in, she crosses her arms and turns her chin up and away.

"Be glad your not in on it. This extra assignment is for them to work on an infected person"

Kadance spins around and grabs his shirt, pulling him down to her height. "As in one of those infected things from the quarantined towns?" he nods yes. "Aaa! How dare they not included me! I have access to the best medical and scientific equipment possible!"

"Your missing the point, my brother is in the same damn room as one of those infected people. From another large city's such as our own and he says we should worry about its presence here in the city. There supposed to help figure out what's going on. If the specimen ever got out and they can't kill it then they will shut down the bridges and trap us all on this island. If that happens promise me you'll grab a few things and take your dads helicopter out of here"

She didn't believe it at first, but her gut was arguing with her. Lucas wouldn't joke about something like this. He certainly wouldn't have tracked her down at 9 pm out of the blue to feed her such a nonsense story just to get a rise out of her. "Very well, I will have a go bag ready at all times. Should it happen, here is my new number, text me and I will leave with my family." She nods once handing the scrap paper over that he puts away in his wallet, taking a small amount of pride to go along with her surprise that it's the same one she gave him the last Christmas they were together. Not that anyone could ever complain, it was a good leather wallet and would surly last him many more years. It was worth more than the rest of his attire.

"Thank for listening to me" he smiles at her.

"Thank you for the warning, you have more to gain by not telling me." She smile back. Her father had been so mad when he broke up with her, threatening to shut down his father's dojo. He held firm and she made her dad back down, it wasn't worth it, either he would come back or he wouldn't.

"Maybe, but that's not how I do things"

"I know, its what makes you so hard to say no to, go, before I do something stupid"

"Kandace?" Lucas pauses a step down turning back to her and stares straight into her eyes. "Promise me you'll pack that bag and leave if I tell you to"

"Yes yes I promise to pack the bag and flee if you tell me too"

"Right away? Not at some leisurely pace?" He raises an eye brow waiting for her answer.

She reaches forwards to pat his check. "Well at least you learn fast, very well I will go pack my bag right now and inform my parents to keep an escape route ready at all times. Your going to cost his company a lot of money if nothing bad happens"

"Its better to be prepared" He counters grinning at her, just like old times. She missed that smile.

"Yes it is, go now before I try to steal a kiss you won't give me anymore" Kandace turns away from him, some memory sucker punching her in the gut randomly. They had it good, but it wasn't meant to be. To her shocked dismay he planted a kiss on her temple when she wasn't looking.

"Fine, just be careful, my number never changed" he walked down the sidewalk and away from her… again.

Meanwhile Darin took note of Chole's stuffed up nose, discombobulated glazed over stare and clumsy movements. She sounded all congested, clearly suffering from a head cold and a bad one from the sounds of it.

"I'll be fine, if you can work through a flu then I can work through a silly little head cold." She rubbed at her nose before gulping back some flavored coffee in its to go cup. It was from some fancy, read over priced, shop around the corner. He had to admit it smelled good but right now he was most focused at staying as far from her as possible, whatever she had he didn't want.

"Fine, keep your germ-y self over there" he waved her away back to her corner. He takes note of the scratch on her arm, it looked irritated and possibly infected.

"Fine my notes" she slid a copy of her notes across his table while their specimen screamed over and over again.

She was trapped, restrained on the gurney. He was wishing he hadn't though to tie her up, she wouldn't stop unless they drugged her or she fell asleep. This bod well, he thought, that she at least retained some basic human traits. She didn't like being tied down, she snapped at anyone who came near her with a needle, an indication of fear. She was still human and she was still acting like one… mostly. He slumped his head down. Mathew's obsession with calling her a zombie was getting to him. He wanted Anissa back, she was off running some other tests and double checking on some results.

Chloe stubbornly sat down beside him. "Why did you pick her?"

"Don't you have work to do? I don't want your head cold please go away" he shifted farther away from her. She shifted closer to him again.

"The computer is almost done running something for me. It's not so bad, but why did you pick her? I'm smarter then she is, I have the best grades in chemistry out of the others here, I bet we could solve this problem in a day if we worked together on it." She shifted closer as he shifted away again.

"We are both working on it, at least I'm trying to!" He shifted again only to have Amelia seat herself next to him, blocking Chloe's twisted musical chairs game.

"Hey Darin" Amelia ignored Chloe earnings herself a glare as the other girl walked off. "Did you already run… a … test …on…"she glanced over her shoulder to make sure the other girl was gone. "Thank goodness, that was supper creepy"

"Thank you, she doesn't seem to be taking the hint" Darin pulled a hand down his face.

"Then make it official with Anissa already and the other girls should leave you alone. You look tired, why not call it a night and head home, we wouldn't want our best hope caching cold and being out for a minute now would we?" Amelia grinned at him digging in a bit more.

"Yaa yaa, I'm never going to live that down am I?" Darin shakes his head grabbing his books first. "As far as Anissa goes, well this seems a bit more important right now don't you think? As soon as she gets back I'll walk her home, maybe bring that up with her. You should go and take care of your stuff too" he nods to her phone, with the panicked text message from Crispin. If she didn't let him know everything was still ok ever few hours he got worried about her.

"Yaa your right, a good night's sleep and more coffee next time I think" She heads back to her desk and starts packing up for the night.

The next day Lucas watched the girl rush by and out the school doors. "Hey, where's Chloe going?"

"The university called her in, seems her latest batch of test's had interesting results and she wants to see for her self. She's dismissed for the rest of the day" Amelia answers as she walks by. "Damn I'm a day behind and half my ideas have already been tried or disproven"

"Aaa chill red, your too smart by half to not surpass them all after today" Crispin throws his arm over her shoulder.

"Your just saying that, heck most of the ideas have been generated by Darin, we're basically just running his ideas for him all at once"

"Just gives you some time to think of the right answer that's all" Crispin dismissed it some more.

"Actually we want the right questions first, then we can work on finding the right answers" Anissa slows her stride to walk beside them.

Crispin blinks at her, slowly while scratching at his head. "What?"

"In science, you need to know what questions you want answered first before you can come up with a correct response. We know what we want, to solve the problem, what we don't now is what exactly is the problem" Darin tries to explain it.

"The infection?" Crispin offers up.

"More or less, the problem is the infection, the questions we need answered are about the infection, once we know more about it then we can tell everyone the answer on how to get ride of it" Darin tries again. "Id love to know how it's spreading in the first place" he grumbles to himself, his air theory was inconclusive.

"Oh" Crispin half steps as that sinks in. "I get it, it's like algebra, A times B equals C. You have to figure out what A and B is before you can answer the question, and to figure out what A and B is you need to go back to other examples"

"That's right Crispin" Amelia smiles at him hugging him tighter.

"Looks like all the extra study time is finally paying off" Ryan smirks at him

"Don't temp me, I'll sick Lucas on dad if your grades drop anymore" Darin points at him.

"You little…" Ryan goes to lung at him, only he stops when Yvonne walks around the corner chewing on her bottom lip and rubbing her arm. "What's wrong?" he switches mods on a dime thinking it's that lousy no good for nothing ex of hers causing trouble again.

"My parents don't believe you, they don't want me hanging out with you anymore. I'm not going to listen to them though, over this last year I've come to understand that your gut instinct on things like this is scary accurate. She stands up tall with a stiff spin. "You guys have been a better family to me then mine own, so if you say jump I'll ask how high." They took a look at the bag on her shoulder, way to full to just be school stuff. "I packed up what I needed, do you think your parents will mind if I crash with you guys for awhile? I can work on getting my own place in a bit…"

"Don't worry about that, dad adores you, I'm sure he won't have a problem with you staying with us." Lucas smiles at her and gets to watch Ryan's shoulders relax, she's been a good calming presence for him. They all adore her, Ryan controls his temper better around her. "I don't think he'll let you live in the same room but we can figure that out tonight at supper, 7pm sharp ok"

"Ok" she lets a rare large smile go and for a moment Ryan can't breath, his lady luck? Living under the same roof as him? He would clean Mathew's room ever day for the rest of his life without complaint if that's what it took to make it happen. Hell he'd clean the whole house and make all three meals for everyone if he needed to. Name it, he'll do it. Please let his dad and mom be OK with this. They take off to history class together with a spring in his step.

Lucas is still smiling when he gets to gym class but takes note that several people are missing, in fact now that he thinks about it, his first period class was only half full. There must be some nasty early pre winter flu going around to make this many call in sick. Serves them right for not taking better care of themselves, he notes two girls in class with stuffed up noses, they look sick but are trying at least. Another guy has a runny nose? Great its one of those head cold flu combos knowing his luck, he better double up on his vitamins. He'll ask Anissa about it later, Darin maybe one of the smartest men of their generation but he's a mechanic at heart, Anissa however could be a great doctor one day.

With last period about to begin Lucas jogs up to Anissa and Darin standing by their lockers. "Hey question"

"Answer" She responds throwing him for a temporary loop.

"You can be so strange at times." Lucas gets his feet back under him. "I have noticed a lot of kids missing in class today, they seem to have had runny or stuffed up noses. I so don't want to worry about getting a head cold or flu like symptoms right now, besides vitamins would else should I be doing to avoid getting sick?"

"Vitamins are great, don't go to happy with them but adding an orange to your daily fruit intake for added vitamin C will go a long way. Be extra vigilant with hand washing and avoid physical contact with noticeably sick people. Some extra sleep is your next best thing and avoid stressers right now. That means take it a little easy in the dojo. I'll distracted the raging steam roller headed your way, you go find somewhere to hide." Without warning she shoves Lucas past Darin and cuts off a visible fuming Nelle.

"What'd you do?" Darin pulls him towards an door exit

"I have no idea." Lucas lets Darin drag him away, not that he doesn't want to work it out with Nelle but right now needs some peace and quiet, he can feel the on coming headache. He however is not going to be let off the hook so easily. He see's a wicked pissed Sky heading for them and no escape route available, Mathew doesn't look happy either so he best nut up and see what's wrong.

"How could you?" Sky stands up as tall as she can, and still only makes it half way up his chest, damn she's a short girl.

"What did I do?" Lucas starts off as she huffs at him, Mathew points behind him. Lucas turns around and comes face to face with a pitcher. Of him. Standing in Kandace's doorway. At the exact moment he kissed her temple. "Fuck" Everyone stops and stares at him, Sky's mouth is hanging open, Darin's blinking at him, unable to process that he swore.

"What is this?" Nelle demands lowering her phone, it was send via text message to her, so someone else saw it and reported it to her.

"Its not what you think" He can't think of where else to start.

"You warned her didn't you?" Darin takes a step back. "After everything her dad tried to do, you still warned her?"

"Yes I warned her. That doesn't mean anything" he waves at the phone. "Her dad has access to his own labs, if things goes south we can always head there…"

"You want me to crash at your ex's place now?" Nelle's hip sways out to the side as she leans back and crosses her arms.

"Only if things go south! It's a secure, gated compound with a functioning lab" he tries again. "I don't care for her anymore in that way" he tries for a puppy eyes look sinking down low. "I was only thinking of a back up plan, that's all"

"So why kiss her?" Nelle softens around the edges a bit.

"It doesn't mean anything, a last minute idea to help soften her up a bit.."

"So your dragging her emotions through the dirt and stringing her along now too?" Nelle goes stiff backed again.

"No!" Lucas scrambles for the right words but isn't coming up with any. "That's… look it doesn't …aaagergaba" he ends up gripping his hair in frustration. "It was a stupid thing to do and I'm sorry, I never should have done that, to her or you" a few other students are eye balling the situation as they meander by. Then the bell goes off and most scatter to their classes.

"Damn rights you shouldn't have done that!" Nelle turns around to walk away but Lucas spotted the tear, he dumps his bag with Darin, spins Nelle back around and pulls her in for a kiss right there. She swoons on him so he takes the opportunity to toss her bag in Anissa's general direction as a few students hoot and holler at them. Mathew and Sky look dumbfounded, Darin doesn't know what to do as Anissa preciously balance two bags over full with stuff.

"I care about you, greatly" Lucas finally lets her lips go. "I only had our best interest at heart and I overstepped a boundary in my attempts to secure one more back up plan and possible escape route. I am so sorry for hurting you, that wasn't my intent. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, it sort of happened. She was, for a change, going to do as I suggested without complaint or argument." Lucas probably should have stopped at the sorry part but he needed her to understand what was going on. "And then that, look it doesn't mean anything to me, she's not the one with a permanent spot in my heart OK"

"… Ok fine, I'll take your word at it then. Don't let it happen again." Nelle figured she was letting him off the hook too easily but he had a way with words when he couldn't find the right ones. It was too cute watching him fumbling around for the right ones to say in the correct order.

"I swear, never again" Lucas crosses his heart, it's a sealed deal and he's out of trouble. Well right up until his teacher spots him lollygagging around in the halls and feels the need to yell at him to stop making out and get to class already. He's embarrassed as he walks into a class room full of giggling girls and guys ready to rub it in first chance they get. He can feel the heat across his cheeks, ducking his head low. Great getting chewed out twice in as many minutes does a number on ones ego.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen" Greg the guy beside him snickers. "I see you sweet talked your way out of trouble even with evidence on her phone"

"Its not like that" Lucas starts to protest.

"Chit chat about it later, right now try to focus on the lesson" his teacher cracks at him again. "chapter 6, page 354 please"

... ... ...

Back at the Harlan home...

"Ok don't freak out, let Lucas and Darin do most of the talking and everything will be fine." Ryan nods at Yvonne as she sits down at the supper table beside him. They bow their heads to give thanks, his dad didn't even bat an eye lash at her being there for supper. He had been on his best behavior, home right after school with Lucas. They both worked extra hard and stayed focused during the lesson, helped clean up after without being promoted too. Then she helped Sky with a school project and he helped Mathew with supper. Darin and Anissa was present as well, he felt the air get heavy around him. If for some reason his dad said no he'd help her pay for a hotel until she got a place of her own, then he'd help out with the bills. He'd quit hockey and get a second job if need be.

Mom and dad shared a look "Spit it out children." They could feel the tension around them, it was a palpable thing. They were nervous and needing to ask or talk about something but hadn't said anything as of yet. "What's on your minds?" he finally looks to see everyone looking at the oldest, waiting for his signal.

"Well father" Lucas starting of formally has him on edge, they were going to ask something big of them. "You see we ran across some resistance from some parents, not believing us about needing to be ready and all"

"As they are in titled to their options" Mom waves him on.

"Father" Darin steps up next setting them even more on edge, if their trying to tag team them into agreeing to something then it was something very troublesome indeed. What else had gone wrong now he wondered. "Not wanting to believe me is fine, not wanting to prepare is their prerogative... but to denied someone else the opportunity to be ready just encase sounds a little bit too much like child endangerment to me"

"What did you do?" Mom stares at the second oldest son. "You only go above and beyond to help when you want something that you think I will say no too. I noticed all the extra effort today. While appreciated, it should not only be done to gain favor in hopes of swaying another's answer to what you wish for." Ryan gulps his partly chewed food down.

"Mr. and Mrs. Harlan" Yvonne puts her fork down. "First, thank you for inviting me into your home and welcoming me to the dinner table, you are always so generous. And I feel I may be over stepping my bounds but it was I that had the falling out with my parents."

"Parents do funny things when it concerns their children"

"Indeed, but I simply couldn't abide by this rule. Darin's instincts have proven to be accurate before and I trust them when he says we need to be worried. So when my parents forbid me to see any of you again I couldn't, I just couldn't listed to the command. It's wrong. Just as wrong as it was when they said I should take my ex back. I ignore Darin's advice then, I won't do it again. Last time it was a punch to the face and 3 hours in emergency getting stitches. This time it could be a lot worse. I know it's not right to ignore and disrespect my parents but I left this morning with as much as I could that was my own. Cleaned my room up and let a note. But I can not return there, I was hoping that you would allow me to stay here. At least until I can get a place of my own, I'll sleep on the couch, it's rather comfortable actually, or a chair in your room if that'll put your mind at ease about my present here." she pauses when they chuckles at this.

"My dear" Everyone holds their breath. "You are almost 18, it is not uncommon for one at your age to move out, to explore their world." This is what they were so worried about? "You are always welcomed here, the spare room can be made up for you" he watches them all sigh in relief at this. They had received the phone call as she lay hiding in her own closet. Her own parents had done nothing about the treatment she had endured at her ex's brutish hands. Any respect they may have had was wiped away as their mom sat in the emergency room holding Yvonne's hand as she filed the police report in tears. Terror making her arms shakes thinking it would happen if she returned home ever again. Mr. Harlan had shown her an advanced self defense technique that night, made her practice it a dozen times before dropping her back off at home. No one slept well over the course of a week while things calmed down and the first court date set. "Honestly, knowing Ryan will be on his best behavior for a while makes this more like a favor to us" he cracks a smile at them. It causes the table to roar in laughter, while his second oldest takes the brunt of the joke with minimal complains. So they enjoys the lighter atmosphere. Supper hasn't been this joyous in far too long, he could feel the growing tension in his family, felt them start to drift apart as growing clashing personalities and shifting perspectives changed them. He always knew one day the odds would be good that all four of his beloved sons would go in radically different direction from each other. But for now he would enjoy these special moments and let some older, maybe outdated traditions go in favor of keeping them around a bit longer. Yvonne had a solid well rounded head on her shoulders and Ryan wouldn't do anything too bad while still under his roof. Plus this many in one house, it would be nearly impossible to get any quite never mind alone time in for them to get into any trouble. He hoped.


	4. Chapter 4

Getting everyone out

Do you ever get that feeling in the pit of your stomach that all hell is about to break loss? Well Lucas had that feeling, and it was getting stronger ever day, he pushes his bowl of cereal away from him. Nauseated and unable to finish it even though he was hungry. He grabs an orange and suffers through it, determined to not get sick right now.

His father walks into the room and takes note of the half finished breakfast. "My son, are you not feeling well?" he asks looking at the bare stove top.

"No I'm fine father, I'm just worried that's all" Lucas pushes his bowl around a bit more debating with himself.

"Did you forget something?" he try's again scanning for the missing object, where did they put it?

"I don't believe so, why?" Lucas looks up at him looking around before jumping up and gasping in shock. "I'm sorry father! I forgot to start your water for you" he reaches up high to get the kettle down.

He chuckles at this. "I am capable of starting my own water my son, I was wondering if you forget what day it is?" Lucas looks at him as he fills the kettle up looking confused. "Its Saturday morning and classes started 5 minutes ago"

Lucas almost drops the kettle staring open mouthed in horror at his mistake." I am so sorry father!" Glancing at his street clothes first he stops to think it through. If he runs he can still be in class in the next few minutes and if he pushes himself he can get through morning stretches in 8 minutes instead of 15. He'll have to cut his normal kata routine in half and just make up for it later but he could still help run the class...

"Do not worry about it, I left Darin in charge of stretches while I came looking for you. I am concerned about you right now. I can tell this situation weights on you." After Lucas turns the stove on and sets the kettle down he motions them back to the table. "Do you wish to talk about anything at all?" he watches his son debate with himself but finally shake his head no. Mr. Harlan knows he is keeping something from him but he will wait for Lucas to open up about it. . "Ever since your mother's death you have been carrying a burden on your shoulders that never should have been passed onto you. I am sorry I failed as a father back then, just know that you can always talk to me about anything. Take the day off, rest your mind" Lucas's head snapped up but didn't protest like he normally would have. "I can tell you are stressed my son, as you would make the others rest to avoid any injuries or sickness I am making you rest now for the same reason. Enjoy some uninterrupted TV time." He shoo's his son off to the living room, returned to the kitchen long enough to make his tea and then returned to the dojo attached to their home.

Lucas thumped down onto the couch, still hungry and nauseous. His dad had a point, some uninterrupted TV time did sound good. He would make Darin stop fussing to eat and sleep. He made sure Mathew didn't burn the house down and turn the games off too. Ryan was a challenge but he had figured out the best way to deal with him. By making Ryan think it was his idea in the first place. He had stressed over self defense techniques when the rebellious side started fighting back more. He had to make sure his brothers where safe if they would be out at all kinds of weird hours. Maybe he could take an hour to relax and be a kid while he still could. Now that he thought about it someone else always had the remote. Mathew to watch cartoons, oh sorry, anime. Darin the discovery Channel. Ryan watched sports, his dad had his soaps… him not so much. So he grabbed the remote and started scanning through the channels. He stopped at some reality show but promptly passed on the drama. Without Nelle or his step mom here he didn't want to know about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, what some crazy girl was spending on her wedding or how that cake guy made a cake look like something alive. Fondant on cakes looked nice but tasted terrible. He stopped at some supper hero movie but it didn't look that interesting, four super hero's without supper powers? Balls-ie, like playing an mmo game without magic. He moved onto sports but nothing much was going on, a bunch of basketball players were out with sickness. Wow was the hole world getting sick or something? He flipped over to the news channel to see if they could shed some light on this. Poor anchor man and woman looked like they were fighting off the same head flu. Jeez he was sorry he asked. He let them drone on about some stuff he wasn't interested, a report came on as Darin came in to check on him.

"Hey, how you feeling?" He placed the back of his hand on Lucas's forehead trying to take his temperature. "You feel a bit peckish, why don't you try for a nap, maybe that'll help"

"I do feel…" Lucas stopped to slap at Darin's arm before turning the volume up on the T.V

-"Reports are in, some of the infected from a quarantined city have escaped"- the girl was trying not to sneeze as the guy talked. -"The government has several of the best and brightest looking into this and the president is encouraging the public to stay calm. The army has the situation under control, if you see anyone action strange with flu like symptoms you are asked to report it at the number listed below"-

Darin froze, rooted to his spot. "Infected got out of a quarantined city" he sunk into the couch beside Lucas and curled in on himself. "There losing control fast, we don't even know how this thing is passed around. Their best and brightest don't have a clue that's why they are asking students for help." Darin clung to Lucas's arm for a moment. He shivered and pull back into himself. "The death toll will be into the millions if they can't contain it." Darin dry heaves and without a second spared Lucas had him on the floor with his head between his knees breathing deeply to help calm his nerves.

"What happened?" Ryan stepped in next and moved to Darin's side.

Lucas looks up at Anissa as she walks into the house. "Infected escaped from another city." She pales at this idea and only Nelle stops her from hitting the floor.

"OK universe I was only joking about an apocalypse" Mathew helps Sky sit down. "Are we looking at a second great plague?" He looks from Darin to Anissa then finally his worried eyes settles on Lucas.

"Mathew…" Anissa starts but Darin stops her.

"…Yes Mathew" he gulps in air. "It could be a second great plague starting up. We need to get back to the university"

"Agreed" Anissa collects her thoughts then gets up. "The blood work will be done later today and ready for me to look over. If we're there I can go over it with you"

"Blood work?" Nelle looks between them. "Two different city's on either side of the coast got infected around the same time, wouldn't that make it air born?"

"Not unless patient zero traveled by plane, taking off at point A in the am and landing at point B in the PM." Anissa points out. "It could be spread by the air but it can't go long distances"

"It would put some stock back into your air born pathogen idea" Lucas nodded at Darin.

"Yes it would, that's means that the infection also needs a host body to sustain it. It can jump around in the air but it can't survive for long without one." Darin gets up off the couch. "Lets go shower and head down, Lucas go get some rest you look ill"

"I'm worried but fine, I'll go for nap in a bit." Lucas doesn't think he'll let able to sleep but Anissa glaring a hole into his head gives him pause, he'll try or he'll never hear the end of it. Darin and Anissa rush off to the university.

Lucas is right he can't sleep but he's resting at least. The fact that his dad not only knows but encouraged Nelle to lay down beside him to help him relax told him how stressed he looked. She fell asleep, he's stuck staring at his ceiling. Literally stuck, she's using him like a body pillow and his arm lost feeling about 4 minutes ago. He's going to suffer from pins and needles when he gets up but he figures it'll be worth it. She snuggles in some more and he's left doing some awkward leg work to get the blanket at the end of his bed. He's still trying to wiggle it far enough so he can use his available arm to throw it over her shoulder when Mathew wonders by the mostly open door. He watches Mathew trying not to laugh at him haphazardly sprawled out in his attempts before coming in to help his big brother out. Tip toeing across the room he gently and expertly lays the blanket across Nelle's shoulders and across him before leaving without a word… Lucas is now terrified of what will come of this later on. The heat from the blanket seems to do the trick in a matter of minutes he's passed out too.

Lucas is curled around Nelle when he try's to move his arm and instantly regrets it. Pins and needles shoot throw his arm and he's left biting his lip trying not to disturb her.

She lazily blinks at him. "Hey, Are you ok?" she shifts to see what's wrong.

"Its fine" he flexes his hand to help blood flow return. "Feeling better?"

"Much better, how about you?" she places a hand to his forehead before smiling at him. "Your temperature seems to have gone down"

"I am feeling better" He smiles at her, feeling that pull, the need to kiss her while they lay relaxing in his bed. He holds it at bay as a phone goes off in the house. She's looking up at him, waiting. When no one answers after the third ring he gets annoyed. Then he blinks rapidly. The house is very quiet… to quiet. "Where is everyone?" he takes a look at the clock. "What the …" he double checks and looks out the window. "It's the middle of the afternoon!" they slept for 3 hours! The phone goes off again and he figures he might as well answer it, if he can reach it in time.

Nelle is right behind him, rushing down the stairs and into the kitchen. "So close and yet so far" he picks the phone up after the third ring but there's no one on the other side. Somehow he gets the feeling she wasn't talking about the missed call. He hangs up with a sigh only to jump out of his skin when it goes off again. "Well someone is being pushy"

He rolls his eyes at her before picking it up. "Hello you've reached the…" he pulls the phone away from his ear as an alarm starts screaming in the back round. A female screams at something before something goes smash and the sounds stops again.

"Lucas!" Anissa half sobs at him, his blood frezzes. An after though he looks over at Nelle now watching him with unblinking eyes. "Darin won't come out of the containment unit, he refuses to leave but we can't stay here"

"What happened?" No one's home but what he wouldn't give for his father to be here right now.

"Our infected got out and Darin's blaming himself, I keep telling him…"

"Anissa!" Lucas interrupts her. "Is he infected?" Nelle beside him grips onto the counter so hard her knuckles turn white.

"The odds are…"

"Speak plainly for me right now"

It's a world shattering, breath stealing heart beat of a second. "He thinks he is" Anissa finally answers. His world tilts, he starts to go sideways and only Nelle being there stops him from dropping the phone. "I'm running a fast test but he won't leave until it comes back clean, we have to leave, one of the students came back positive, she ran for it, in the confusion our test subject got out…"

Lucas cuts her off again, his voice is cold even to him. "Anissa? Why does Darin think he's infected?"

"She took a chunk out of his skin… with her teeth." She sucks in some air and starts up again and he nearly losses it on them, if anything happens to his little brother he'd never forgive himself. "There is some proof that maybe, MAYBE some bodily fluids could be involved in the transfer of the virus. We know nothing still" Anissa wails next "He won't open the door for me! Why won't he open the door?"

"He's scared Anissa, he's scared he will infected the people he loves, including you." Its out his mouth without a second thought, how Darin feels about her is only a secret to them. "How did the other student get infected?"

"Im… not sure…" he hears some paper being shuffled around. "She's reportedly been sick for a few days now…eeep!" she drops the phone as a loud smack is heard on her end.

"Anissa! What was that?" Lucas has to wait for some talking to be done before she picks the phone back up and endure Nelle depriving his arm of blood flow again.

"Darin says you all need to leave now"

"Oh my god... ok I am coming down there right now and we are talking about this in person!" Lucas goes to hang up but Darin comes on yelling at him.

"NO! Lucas you can't come down here" hearing him through a speaker while on speaker phone is difficult. "I mean it. Get off the island and get far away from me, Anissa will meet up with you at our third designate spot"

Anissa's high and shrill response makes Lucas pull the phone away from his head again. "I will do no such thing! Darin Niles Harlan I am not leaving this Island without you, I swear I will bash you over the head and drag you out that door with me if need be!" Lucas is impressed and a little worried about this final statement.

"You will not be able to check me off guard, nor are your skills better then mine to attempt such a move…" the line goes dead and Lucas panics.

"Darin! Anissa!" he scrambles for his cell but it's back in his room. "Ok, that's it I'm going down there to bash him over the head and drag his ass out of the city with us." Lucas stomps up the first few steps before back tracking to see Nelle's face pressed into her phone screen. "What are you doing?"

"We have two infected people running around this city, they will close the bridges in a few hours tops. I'm sending the bail message out to everyone with Darin's instructions to go to the third spot, you may want to call your ex and let her know as well"

Lucas nods at this, then takes the stairs two at a time. Once in his room he takes his wallet out and dials the unfamiliar number. "Hello Kandace" she answers promptly on the second ring like always. "We have two infected roaming the city, time to jet" he nods once even though she can't see him. "Be careful ok" he lets the phone fall back into his lap to run his hand down his face.

"Do you miss her?" Nelle stands in his doorway. She's staring at his open wallet. He blinks but can't help but laugh at this.

"There are many things I miss in life, but having to deal with Kandace is not one of them."

"I know it's bad timing" Nelle rings her hands. "I'm not really jealous of her, and I didn't think twice about the wallet until I got that picture…" she blinks for a moment, shaking her head as if to clear cobwebs away. "We can talk about it later, right now we need to track everyone down and get out of here, Ryan's not answering his phone. Yvonne walked out, told everyone in there to leave. Her boss closed up shop so at least a few more souls will be safe. She's picking up Sky and Mathew for us"

"Thank you, I don't know how to get ahead of mom and dad, neither have a cell phone and there not here, I…"

"We will leave a note and the van, we can take your junker for now. I'll grab some more supplies while you get Darin out OK?" She grabs her purse from the bedside table while Lucas nods in agreement.

"I hope he see's it in time" he stops her before they can take off, grabbing two boxes of food first. He sends out another text, grab some extra supplies on your way out or preferably after your across the water. Mathew sends back a got it boss text, his inquiries about Ryan and Darin go unanswered. Until he knows for sure he's not going to freak Mathew out and with Yvonne at the wheel she'll turn the car around to find Ryan. He can't have that, if nothing else he got Mathew out. That one comfort will have to do.

He has to call Anissa to find out which part of the University he needs to go too. Then gets Nelle to drop him off at the right doors and promise that she'll be extra careful while grabbing a few more things. After he gets Darin out he'll call her back, if she's not buying stuff she's locked in the car. She agrees to this, he's not sure she'll actually do it, but she at least agreed too. He's running down the hallways trying to locate them when a familiar bellow rises above the distance echo of alarm bells. Well he found Ryan. He takes off forgoing caution in favor of speed. Triple times it around a few corners and somehow finds the extra push when Ryan's rage sounds down the hallways again. He didn't look into this virus thing much and he was hoping it didn't cost him a brother. "Ryan?" his voice echos around him. "Anissa?" he needs to find out what's pissing Ryan off, like now. He canters around a corner and finds him wailing on a security guard. Anissa is slumped against the wall, he slides to a stop beside her and checks for injuries. She has a head wound but seems to be ok otherwise. "Ryan!" he shouts three more times before he comes too snarling at him.

"Dickhead was trying to chew on her" Ryan tosses the limp body away from him.

"Excellent, target has been neutralize now how do we find the lab and Darin?" Lucas picks her up in his arms.

"Down this way" Ryan helps him to stand and shows him the way. Darin's pressed his face into the glass trying to see what's going on and has a fit when he see's Anissa. "Maybe next time you two will take practice more seriously!"

"Pot, meet kettle, kettle this is pot... You do know he can't hear you through the glass right?" Lucas nods at the look their getting, Darin points to a box on their side and Ryan repeats himself after finding the intercom button. "Alright lets go, we got infected in this building and I can't keep them off her and help Ryan keep the path clear"

"The test results…"

"How long until you start to display symptoms?"

Darin racks his brains for an answer. "I don't know, a few days to a week?"

"Then we can at least get your help to get her out of here, now how do I open this door?"

Ryan slams his hand down on the table. "Where not leaving him here"

"Not if we don't have too. Darin you said the infected only attack non infected humans right?" He nods in agreement. "So get your ass out here and see if they attack you or not." Darin blinks at him for a long moment.

"...Well shit…" Darin turns around to face the door. "Push the big green button" . He fallows them back down the corridor and points out that the unconscious guard is the one he saved, he only had a scratch on him from the lady. Darin wants to return to the observation room but won't until he knows Anissa is safe.

Nelle pulls up in front of the door as a few more guards stumble around the corner. Lucas puts Anissa in the car taking care to buckle her up.

"Lets move it, that's how the other guy was walking" Ryan throws open a door and try's to shoves Darin inside but he stops him.

"Time to test Lucas's theory" Darin starts to walk towards the guards, when they spot him they lung towards him. He jumps back screaming. "Ok! they are infected and I'm not somehow" he flees, much like Mathew does from Ryan's anger. "Go go go" he tosses himself into the car and Ryan's half a heart beat behind him as the first guard there dive booms the driver side door making Nelle scream with the impact. "Drive!" she doesn't need anymore advice, puts metal to the petal and burns some rubber on the way out.

"How fast does this infection spread?" Lucas looks back at Darin.

"It should takes to days to weeks to infection this many, unless it's being passed around some other way with no symptoms…" Darin stops as Anissa's groans beside him. "Anissa baby?" he switches to help her sit up better.

"Darin? You got out, how? Where are we?" she blinks taking in her surroundings.

"Guard was trying to take a bite out of arm, your lucky I got there when I did" Ryan lets her know. "I Heard the crash and jumped out of the room to see if you where ok"

"Oh lucky me, I don't even remember being hit"

"The infection has spread to all the guards that where there on the first night, plus a few others" Darin recaps for her.

"Then we're back to air born, just bringing that first subject here caused all of this. How are we not infected? You should be chewing on us right now, you came in contact with her skin, then her bite" Anissa pulls his sleeve up making the others hisses at it.

"Nasty, good thing we got a doctor here with us or some other kind of infection is going to sink in real soon" Lucas's phone goes off silencing them all.

"Dad!" he picks it up and they hold their breath. "Yvonne, Sky and Mathew are all ready headed out of the city, they will be the first ones there. I got the rest of us, you need to leave now just close up shop and get out of there." it's another breathless moment. "No dad you need to leave, the city has been infected already were close to a dozen people. Tell everyone to get out, please dad we left most of the supplies with you and the van." It's a long shot and they all hear the long suffering sigh that comes from the other end. "Yes, gods speed father, see in a few hours" he hangs up and dials another number. "Were up to almost a dozen infected I hope your long gone by now… Yaa that's what I thought, move it Kandace" he hangs up and calls another number. "Amelia? Excellent. Yep the farm house, yes, ok see you in a bit" he lets his head flop back before adressing them. "Everyone's on the way out, dad and mom will be an hour or more behind us but he's letting the students and their families know to get out too. He got back to open up for the evening classes and found our note."

"You left without him? Without the supplies?" Anissa slowly blinks at him.

"You didn't answer your phone after you hung up on me, I was coming to get my little brother then off to find this one next" he nods at Ryan

Ryan huffed out "Yaa she called me to get Darin out of the cage"

Darin and Anissa correct him in the same unimpressed tone. "Observation room."

"Looks like a cage to me, you even have a slot at the bottom to pass food through." Ryan tilts his head daring them to say otherwise. It shuts them both up. "Yaa that's what I thought" he turns his attention back to the front. "So what's the plan?"

"Get out of the city, meet up with everyone" Lucas answers him. "Let me know when your ready for a break, we got a three day plus of driving to get through, I hope everyone has some extra cash on them." He thinks about his last paycheck, he took minimum wage from his dad and never clocked all his hours in. Family run just meant he worked for his dad as janitorial duty, he wasn't certified to be teaching anyone anything. He got away with teaching his brothers and some of his friends but he wasn't paid like a teacher, heck he did those lessons for free and let all the money go into the business. It kept the roof over his head and food in the fridge. He only agreed to take pay so he could help pay for the upkeep on the car, help buy groceries and even paid the odd bill if he could get his hands on it first.

Nelle patted his knee. "I got paid all that back time on Wednesday, we're good"

Ryan tossed the last of his money in the center console of the old car, he had a few more bucks on his card but that was about it. "If dad doesn't make it out were going to starve, aren't we?"

"Hence why I told him about most of the supplies being with him still. I grabbed two boxes of food and Nelle did some shopping for us, in theory Mathew and the others are picking up stuff as well." He picked his phone back up and called Mathew but no one answered. "I hope they're out of the city soon" He took a look outside the window, to most it would look like an old beater of a car full of teenagers. "They have no idea that all hell is about to break free do they?" No one answered him. "I want to warn them, to tell them to run away too.."

Anissa clings to Darin. "You'll cause mass panic and risk getting the gates and bridges shut down faster, with all of us on it still. Its cold but family first right? No one gets left behind?"

"Right" Ryan's gruff voice barley reaches up to him, but the sound of Yvonne's voice mail picking up sours the atmosphere. They drive for an hour, get across the bridge and keep going. Four hours later they stop to grab some food, not wanting to eat anything they have with them. Nelle and Anissa hope over next door and pick up more from the little grocery shop there. The poor trunk is looking full but they close it knowing they don't have enough to last more then a week tops with this many to feed. Lucas try's Mathew one last time before they hit the road again with Ryan behind the wheel this time. Lucas's fever is back and they all expect him to nap for most of the night.

"There's too much stress on his system, he'll be better with sleep and water." Anissa hands Nelle a water bottle, a multi vitamin and some other pill she picked up in the itty bitty medicine section. They bulked up on what they could find as the guys come out with supper. Her voice drips with sarcasm "Yeah driving all night" They climb back in and Ryan almost peels out in his hurry.

He's coasting along the open road, music playing softly in the back round and everyone sleeping. Guess today was a bit much. Still he knows what a bad idea it is to be left alone with his thoughts. It gets dark and scary in here by himself. His lady luck kept him from falling from grace. He remembers how they meet. He was trying out for wrestling, thinking it's not a group effort for the most part, maybe his anger wouldn't be a deciding factor. It was, he couldn't get on the team. He flipped out and paced for what seemed like forever. Then there was Yvonne. Standing there waiting for her moment. Well she was good at calming angered men down, between her father, brother and boyfriend at the time… the one he hoped she would dump so he could ask her out. He had always wondered if that made him a home wrecker or not. He definitely toed that line a few times at any rate and she let him, oh did she ever let him. She never crossed over into cheating on the douchbag but there is a lot of grey surrounding the topic. Either way his mind went to the phone call that changed it all. He was late coming home and almost missed it. There his dad stood, red faced clutching the phone and desperately trying to calm his breathing. His brother's where confused at the show of anger, dad had only ever been angry two other times before that he could think of. Once when Ryan pushed Darin over a protective railing, resulting in a broken bone. the other was when he got into a fight at school. This was the first time he had truly lost his temper. Only his dad's quicker reaction time had stopped Ryan from hitting the school principle. It took Lucas's plea's, Darin's hard logic and Mathew's tears to finally clear his field of vision. Shit head deserved the ass kicking after insulting Lucas's and Darin's dead mom. That started it off, when he went after Mathew and his dead dad, well it pushed him over the edge. Something seemed to snap in everyone after hearing some of the comments. Lucas went stoic after that day, lord only knows what was going throw his mind, probably thinking it was up to him to keep the family safe. Darin couldn't deal so it was like he decided that he wasn't going to feel anything ever again, lost himself in his books and tuned everything else out. Mathew found his reprieve in games and magazines, choosing to believe in super hero's that can never die rather then deal with his own loss. He got angry at everyone. It took a year for his parents to realize what was going on around them and by then it was too late. Lucas had taken charge, Ryan was getting into trouble. Darin had tuned to machines and Mathew was lost in a dream world. It took another year for them to realize that they still needed each other. The pain was finally allowed to wash over them, it was bittersweet and cleansing. By the end of the third year they were almost a family again, just in time for puberty to wack them upside the head and shake it all up again. Lucas got quite and demanding of them. He pushed everyone away again, wanting to be left alone. Darin went supper geeky awkward and Mathew went from slightly annoying to full blown irritating and over the top goofy. Then Yvonne appeared, like a soothing balm and fresh air. He calmed down, Lucas relaxed and meet Nelle. Mathew realized Sky was a girl (and he a boy and thus there was other ways to play) and now they all waited for Anissa to pull Darin's head out of his books. Life was looking up again, only to hear that phone ring at 11 o'clock a night. Mathew was frozen, Darin held his breath. Lucas might have well been dead he was so still. Nothing good ever comes from a phone call that late at night. He walked in the door and his brother's sucked in air, then waited for the bad news. Dad took him aside to discuss what was going on first, then let him explain on the way to the hospital. Lucas was livid spotting Yvonne's stitches. Darin, he was sure, was plotting murder and Mathew did his best to make everyone smile again. His jest of teaching Yvonne some self defense was taken into account and they all stayed up to nearly 4 in the morning going over moves with her. His vision blurring was his cue to wake Darin up, it was his turn to drive. His phone buzzed and as he pulled over trying to answer it and hit the bumps too fast. Jolting everyone but Lucas awake. "Well he's out for the count I see"

"Hey Yvonne" Darin yawned beside him. "We're all here… he was driving… yaa now that he scared us all awake here." Darin hands the phone over and processed to stretch as well as one can in a cramped car. "Don't get me wrong, this car is great but I miss the van"

"It has more space, and she's due for a check up soon" Nelle settles back into Lucas's side. "He's getting sick isn't he?" She inquiries with Anissa rubbing her eyes.

"No he's getting better, winning the fight against the bug if he's sleeping this much." Anissa leans against the door and waits to see what happens next. Ryan is outside in the cold air talking and thinking. He pulls Darin out and grabs a map. "Think we're diverting to meet up with them?"

"Probably, and to switch passengers too"

"What makes you say that?"

"Darin won't stop pulling at his injured arm, he's still worried about being infected. If this is air born aren't we all already infected by just being…" Anissa jumps out of the car and throws herself on Darin talking a million miles a minute.

Ryan pokes his head inside the car looking for something. "Do I wanna know?"

"Not likely" Nelle settles in more then jerks up and away from Lucas.

"It's a little late to be realizing that boys have germs" Ryan jokes with her.

"Get Anissa now" Nelle places her ear back to Lucas's chest. "I think he's really sick"

Anissa pokes her head in a moment later. "I had an idea and don't want to loss it"

"Listen to this" Nelle yanks her head towards Lucas's chest. Darin looks on confused before Anissa manhandles Nelle out of the car. "Hey!" the commotion wakes Lucas up finally but Anissa slams the door in his face.

"That's how the infected breath when their asleep" Anissa holds the door closed.

Darin's legs give out. "No. He wasn't exposed!"

"He was!" Lucas goes for the other. "Don't let him out!" Anissa shouts at Ryan. "The first day, who was the first person you came into contact with after getting home?"

Darin's arms sag to the ground. "Same person that always greets me first with a welcome home hug" He stares in horror at a confused Lucas. "I washed up before I left, I made sure of it"

"Compulsively so" Anissa agrees. "But you also touched the door on your way out that hadn't been wiped down"

Darin remember slapping Lucass bar arm in the greeting. "What have I done?" Lucas is banging on the window demanding answers.

"This is ridiculous" Nelle pushes Anissa away and yanks the door open. "Anissa thinks your infected because your breathing is off." She tells a startled Lucas, who promptly takes the car door back, slams it shut and locks it. "Jezzie petes" She rattles the door trying to get it open. "Your not infected your sick"

"Oh wow" Darin looks at her. "He's both" He points to the window and Lucas cracks it open to talk with them. "Its air born, short range" he nods to Anissa. They get up and paces in tight circles "Just like a flu or cold. I bet it piggybacks in on one of these."

She lifts a finger up. "Then waits for the immune system to be compromised enough before making its move, classic parasite techniques."

"Its not strong enough to last on its own, so it needs an incubator like a flu or cold. That can also be passed on by touch, that's why we can't isolated where or even when it first started" Darin cinches in tighter.

"Almost every other case we looked at indicated that the infected reported being sick in various forms priory to lashing out. So where the infection gets in depends on how long it takes to get to the brain to do the real damage."

"So long as Lucas's immune system keeps up the good work he's no threat, I bet his system could boot the virus out with some help"

"Could he form anti bodies while he's at it?" Anissa gets excited with this idea

"To his particular strain, mild fever, tired, loss of appetite and some nausea. A mild flu" Darin grips her arms. "We need medicine."

"Lots of it, we need to get your arm checked out and you started on antibiotics. It's not the bite, scratches or injuries passing it around its an immunity disorder!" Anissa lets a girly shriek of pure joy out. "Where so close to solving a piece of this puzzle"

"Just one piece?" Ryan opens the drivers door that Lucas forgot to lock. "Hear all that Mathew? No swapping saliva and immediately treat any and all symptoms, the hotel is about an hour from here so we can meet up with you guys in a bit. OK to the front with you fearless where we can keep an eye on you" Lucas grumbles but climbs into the front. "Find family, get to farm house, use Lucas as test subject. Lets go" Ryan makes Darin drive even though he's wide awake again. "Kissy face later you two" Anissa turns a vibrant shade of red while Darin try's to kill him with a look. They both hop in and he takes the middle seat hoping it will provide him with the most advantage, at stopping either brother from hurting any one else.

It has to be the longest hour of his life. Darin is terrified that he made Lucas sick, who else did he infect? Is all of this because of him? "The first three guards" Anissa slips a hand over his shoulder while whispering in his ear. "They all had far more body contact with the girl then you ever did and not one of them washed up after. I bet they spread it all over that university by morning. If anyone is to blame it's the government for bringing her to us in the first place." She sits back and all Darin can think of is the lingering sensation of her hand on his shoulder and breath on his skin. Of all the times to be so acutely aware of someone his body picks now to remember the tiny details that spark ideas in his head. He almost misses the turn off but refuses to rise to Ryan's bait. If he ignores him long enough he'll get bored and move on, hopefully without telling Mathew. They have to wake Lucas up again. He looks likes he's getting better, he needs to take samples right away.

Mathew's first reaction is to hug everyone, so being pushed away kinda hurts even though he knows why. Watching Ryan and Yvonne fight the urge to embrace doesn't sit well with him either. Ryan will get cranky again without it. They only rented one room for the night, he has a feeling they may need to rent a second one with this large a group. Lucas wanted to comfort Nelle but was refusing to touch any of them least he spread it some more. He could see the strain in their shoulders, poor Sky was hugging herself to keep from hugging anyone. The no touchy order at the moment was going to slowly kill them until they knew for sure. Darin and Anissa grabbed samples, then made everyone sleep in shifts. One boy, one girl, no couples. Opposite ends of the room. One to guard the door, one to watch out the window. 3 hours at a time so no one would be losing too much sleep.

Mathew got first shift with Yvonne. She wasn't much of a talker. He got bored fast. In the haste to get out he forgot about his comic books, he never got to read the last one. He had bought it a few days ago but had been so busy he didn't get the chance to read it. Now his mind was running in circles and he desperately wanted a distracted. He had been looking for a distraction for the last 10 years of his life, maybe it was time to face it.

Yvonne sighed looking out the window. "I may regret this but…" She relaxed into the couch, as if getting ready for a long talk she didn't want to be apart of "Penny for your thoughts?"

He couldn't help it, he snorted at this. "That can be a dangerous questions to ask me most days" He leaned back in his chair, contemplating first. "I never got to read the last coming book I picked up" she nodded, letting him take his time. "I'm board right now, wanting to be distracted from my thoughts. Like I have been doing for a decade now, always looking for the next shinny, anything to keep the thoughts at bay." Ryan was right, it was easy talking to her, she seemed relaxed and ready for anything. "Guess I never let dad's death sink in, just let it skim across the top, then at times like this I can't help but think about it. Three months, 2 days, 46 minutes" he double check his watch to be sure of the time. "Will mark that phone call we got. I wouldn't go to sleep, mom was hoping dad would be home soon." Yvonne shifts in her spot taking it all in, thinking about it. "5 months from now I'll be the same age as that kid who took my dad away. You know he wasn't licensed right? Just took his dads old truck for a spin. That big old 4x4 350 farming truck. Dad's little two seat-er didn't stand a chance." He hated large trucks almost as much as he hated tiny cars. "Why would anyone think it would be fun to steal a car then go drive it when you don't know how too?" he kicked at the crappy carpet in front of him.

"People do stupid things at our age. It's hard wired into our brains to take chances, the bigger the risk the bigger the high we get off it. The kid was probably thinking it was late, that no one would be out at such an hour. He will also have to live with what he did for the rest if his life. Taking someones life in such a manner at such a young age would have some profound and disturbing effects on him for sure. He will never be OK again, he probably never got his license after that. I wouldn't be surprised if he never wanted to get into another vehicle again. I almost hit someone driving home one night, I almost couldn't finish the drive after nearly hitting some teenager not looking where he was going. Honestly I'm not sure he even knew he was in danger of being hit by a car. But I do know how I felt after, I can't image what he went threw knowing he killed someone. That he affected a family like that."

Mathew recalled seeing the kids face in the final moments before sentencing. He was crying so hard, couldn't even look at them. His apologies did nothing back then, they did little for him know. "He did seem sorry." He could give the kid that, no self respecting 17 year old will cry almost uncontrollably for 2 hours on a Saturday morning. He pleaded guilty to all counts he was charged for. Being a minor he wouldn't see any jail time, but he was stuck with an insane amount of work to be done. Time with councilors for his PTSD, and a host of other things Mathew couldn't recall anymore. The memories were slipping and fading away. Did that mean anything he wondered. "I still hate him for what he did" He didn't expect a response, nor did he get one. It was just as well, his mind slipped over to meeting Sky, realizing she was the one and waiting till he could ask her out. Step dad's rules, had to be 16 to date. If you can't drive you can't work or treat her to a nice supper. He wasn't too sure of that age, thinking his step dad had been pulling the wool over his eyes. Still he never studied so hard for a test before. He got his license and started looking for a job. All he found was causal hours. There would be weeks between shifts, but he had his job and she finally turned 16, he asked her to the next school dance. She said yes. Then he went to meet her parents and check if that was ok with them. Promised to bring her home by 9 latest. They let him have till 10 since it started at 7. They danced the night away and Lucas made sure he was headed back to her place with time to spare. He proudly got her home in time, got a good night kiss and the rest was history. He didn't even care that his brothers had made fun of him for walking around like a love struck fool for the whole weekend. He got his revenge when Yvonne showed up Monday to see who was making a move on her little sister. Not biological related, Yvonne had signed up for big brother's and sister's program, she was paired up with Sky to help her be more confident. They where surprised by how small the world was and he was thankful Yvonne already knew him, and thus gave him the green light. These last 8 months have been some of his happiest memories. Now before the one year marker his life was thrown into chaos again. "Was happily ever after too much to ask for?" he mused out loud.

"Probably." Yvonne answered him just as lazily. He sighed and went back to staring at the door. Yvonne was probably the better options for keeping unwanted guest out of their room, she was surprisingly strong. He checked on the clock, one hour left.

His eyes burned by the time he got to wake Ryan up for his shift.

He needed sleep but Lucas wouldn't let anyone cuddled right now. So he stayed up for another few minutes to watch her sleep.

Ryan waited for Mathew to stop being a little creep watching Sky sleep like that. Ok, it was kind of adorable, Mathew didn't mean anything by it, just thinking too hard about stuff. But he stood by his first thought, it was a little creepy. If he didn't look at Yvonne he wouldn't be tempted to watch while she slept too. At least that's what he told himself. Damnit, now he was thinking about her, and he understood why Mathew was reluctant to look away.

"Do I wanna know?" Anissa raised her eyebrow at him.

"No" came his gruff response.

Anissa looked at him, looked at Yvonne then over to Mathew and Sky beside each other. "No one would blame you" it was Ryan's turn to raise his eyebrow. "We're all scared, it's only natural to want to hold our loved ones, to check on them to make sure their ok." She turned back to Darin for the millionth time in the last 10 minutes.

Ryan grumbled out. "Its creepy watching someone sleep"

"Only if your intentions are creepy" She corrects him again. "They suffered injuries, I want to run…"

"Please" Ryan held his hands up. "So don't want any kinky visuals right now"

"… A diagnostic on his blood and brain to see how he's doing. I said check to see if their ok, not get my freak on" Anissa huffs out at him. "Darin moves slower then molasses in a January freeze, I'll be old and withered away by the time he gets anywhere with me"

"Soooo didn't need that information" Ryan shivers trying to keep any unwanted visuals out of his head. "Darin means well, your getting married before he makes that last move"

"I'm still waiting on the first one" Anissa pouts at his sleeping form.

"You can thank mom for that. She was in the process of the birds and bees talk with me when Darin wanted to know more. He wanted to know less after. I think she did it on purpose into scaring us both into behaving better"

"Your dad didn't have that talk with you?"

"If mt boilogical father did I don't remeber it. Step dad epic-ally failed with Lucas, so mom took over after he almost scare Lucas into becoming a prest"

Anissa slaps a hand over her face to stiffly the giggle. "That explains so much"

"Yaa Kandace figured that out the hard way, almost made Lucas jump out of his skin." Ryan still couldn't shake the image in his head of the first time Kandace tried to kiss Lucas. Priceless. He wished he had a camera at the time, he still wished he had one, for the soul purpose of taking that one pitcher.

"So what's up with Mathew?" Anissa nodded at him.

"I'm not sure he ever got that talk, thus leaving his imagination and any porn watching he may have done to fill in the blanks. Poor Sky may have to do the heavy lifting for a bit" Ryan runs a hand down his face, would it be too late for that talk with him? Who would have to at this point? Was it better to just let it unfold? Could they abandoned Sky to that task? …. Did she get the talk from her parents to pass the info along to Mathew? "I so don't want to spend three hours thinking of this shit"

Anissa laughs at him. "Sorry" she gets her face back under control but leaves her hands twisted up. "Guess we should find a different topic then"

"I like the topic of silence, does that count?" Ryan regretted his snarky idea instantly.

"Silence is an odd topic" He remembered too late that Anissa could take anything and run with it. "It's a relative term, for only in death can someone truly be silent, hence the term silent as the grave. We breath and move constantly thus making hard to hear noises, even in a so called silent room. Our hearts beating, stomachs digesting food, it all makes noise. We can't hear it over everything else but it's still there. A walk through the forest has leaves crunching under foot. Going for a swim will see waves crashing into us. Starting a car, turning the page of a book. Cooking. Jumping. Even laying down in bed will cause the sheets to crinkle on us"

"I think, Ryan was trying to say he'd like to be left alone with his thoughts for now dear" Darin cracked an eye ball open at them. "And the room needs to be hushed if we're to be sleeping in it"

"Sorry" Anissa curls in on herself. "I'll be quite now" she looks back out the window and Ryan mouths thank you at Darin who tips an imaginary hat at him. From there Anissa gets lost in her thoughts, Ryan try's to ignore his and Darin goes back to sleeping.

Ryan's just chillin in his seat by the door when a woman starts screaming. It makes everyone wake up, damn another 30 minutes and he could have gone back to bed. He gets up and presses his ear to the door, Lucas is invading his space when the woman starts screaming again.

"Time to move" Lucas steps back and goes to open the door but Ryan stops him.

"Wait" Ryan looks throw the peep hole but can't see anything. "Damnit" he takes point, opening the door he sinks down low and looks left then right down the hallway. The screaming came from this way, Lucas is right behind him with Darin trailing behind. They leave Mathew in the room with the girls. Not that they can't fight, they've been training at the dojo for a few years now, but more of a precautions. If this woman isn't in trouble then it'll look weird if they all come around the corner at once. If it is the virus they can send Darin back to get the room packed up while he and Lucas lead the sick people away. He pokes his head around a corner going low while Lucas goes high as another scream sounds. She's getting despite now, she's fighting back they can hear it in her voice. Darin keeps an eye on their retreat while Ryan charges forwards leaving Lucas to make sure the other way is clear. One last corner, close to the elevators has them scrambling around a dead body on the floor, blood soaking throw the carpet. The lady's high pitched scream of pain is cut short and they forgo caution. There's a door ajar beside them and Ryan jumps in first realizing they have no weapons on them. Some chick is chewing on a lady's neck. And not in the fun to watch way. He goes to move forwards to help her but Anissa's hand on his shoulder has him turning around to yell at her. One finger in front of her lips has him backing out of the room with the others. She closes the door behind them and tip toes back around the corner.

"There both dead. She got the main artery. We need to leave now" she runs back the way they came and the room is in anarchy. Mathew's bag is tossed together, Anissa still in her pj's but she grabs and goes. "Someone called the CDC, their going to lock down this place in 30 minutes tops, grab and go"

"That's assuming they don't just fire bomb the place." Mathew shoves Sky towards the door, she trips and goes over.

Lucas's faster reaction stops her from face planting into the door frame. "Speed is of importance but caution is still advised." Lucas sets Sky back on her feet and helps pull Nelle into the hallway. "Since we didn't come in contact with anyone and cleaned any surface we ran across, what's this mess telling you two?"

"Air born, half this planet is undoubably infected we just don't know it yet" Darin answers.

"You got all that Kandace?" Lucas asked confusing them all.

"Yaa we got it, I'll get Christopher on it right away, let me know if you come across anything else useful." Kandace answers from his cell phone's speakers.

Darin hisses at him. "Really?"

Both Lucas and Kandace answer. "Yes. The more we have working on this the better"

"Plus fully functioning lab, sure you don't want to come for a visit? I'll play nice I swear"

"Its your dad I'm worried about" Ryan huffs out.

"He's more interested in finding a cure right now"

"What's wrong?" Lucas halts the process middle of the hallway.

"Mom's infected" Kandace sniffles from the other end. "Dad woke up to her chewing on his arm. They get blood shot eyes 12 hours before turning on us, then seem to go back to normal after that"

"That's good to know" Darin points down the hallway where doors are starting to open up. "Time to go" he shoves Lucas forwards. "Will keep you posted ok Kandace"

"Ok. Stay safe" she hangs up first and they all scramble for the elevators.

Anissa hushes them, pointing to the door she closed. It stands wide open, two bodies laying around for everyone to see. Still Lucas rings for the elevator, it makes a loud ding in the quiet hallway, they tense keeping an eye out. It dings again, opening to reveal the first infected lady they saw with another victim at her feet. Blood drips off her chin, soaking her once flower printed dress. Her head tilts to the side before lunging at Lucas. He kicks her back into the elevator and hits the close door button. He has to kick her back in two more times before the doors finally close again.

"Their learning" Darin looks around them. "She opened that door, the last girl didn't even try to escape from the observation room."

"The last one was half dead, maybe newly created keep their intelligence for a while. Stairs." Anissa points to the next doorway leading down as the elevator try's signals it's about to open up again. They all nod in agreement and hit the stairwell running.

They started on the fifth floor, at the third Mathew see's that blood covered girl again. "Yaa that chick is back can we go any faster?"

Ryan pushes Lucas forwards and hangs back to help Mathew. Ryan drops kicks her in the chest. Something goes snap. The girl holdes her chest plate, stands back up and staggers towards him. "What the…" he kicks her again trying to steer clear of skin to skin just encase. She stumbles back, goes down hard but keeps coming after him. He hates himself but he curb stomps her arm next. It snaps and she screams again. Relentlessly she uses her legs to keep coming after him. Reaching forwards with her good arm, legs pushing her down the stairs, she flops down and try's to bite his leg. "Stay down" he takes at at her knee next.

Darin pulls on his sleeve half dragging him away. Back out at the cars a fight is underway. "They don't stop, she can't fallow us anymore"

Mathew throws his hands up in the air. "No way dude!"

"Its safer…" Lucas try's again.

Nelle stomps her foot. "No its not"

Sky screams at everyone. "Get in the damn cars!"

"What are you so tens about?" Yvonne pushes at Sky.

"Same thing you are!" Sky goes to push her back but fails. "Just move out of my way!" she pouts, huffing out. "Being the smallest sucks!"

Lucas shouts out again. "No! Boys in one car, girls in the other!"

"We've been in the same room, swapping saliva, sharing hugs and invading each other's spaces for weeks now. It's safe to say that anything we had has already been passed around, so there's no need to separate us." Nelle begs Darin with her eyes to help.

"Its probably air born, odds are good I got us all infected, pair up and lets go already." Darin shoves Anissa towards the bigger car. "I need more leg space"

"Darin! I'm fighting off a cold and the girls haven't been exposed as much as the rest of us…"

"Oh we're all pretty screwed by this point in time" Nelle rolls her eyes. "Mathew and Sky keep skipping class, and we all know it's not to teach her how to skate"

Sky goes red in the face. "Hey!"

"Yvonne's hiding hickeys under make up" Nelle points at her neck, not covered in clothing.

"Shit" Yvonne slaps a hand over the first mark but can't cover them all up.

"Was passed out beside you, the sickies of us all for a three hours nap not even 24 hours ago" Nelle watches Lucas slid glance at her. "Anissa might be the safest out of us all" Anissa grumbles at her. "Don't complain about over sharing now"

Darin looks confused. "Over sharing what?" he try's to get Anissa to turn back to him but she stands firm, keeping an eye on the parking lot. "What did I do wrong?" Darin drops his bag, making the others freak out.

Lucas grabs his hair. "Pick that back up!"

"Talk later, driving now!" Mathew pushes Sky towards the first car.

"No, talk now!" Sky puts the breaks on.

Ryan growls out. "Tell him what's wrong so we can keep going"

"She doesn't have to say anything if she isn't ready to talk about it" Nelle shoved her way between Lucas and Ryan.

Yvonne shoves Nelle back. "Well she better get ready fast. We all know he won't go anywhere until she says something"

"Not all of us are that comfortable in our skin and can open up so well Yvonne" Nelle sneers at her.

"If your gonna imply something spit it out already." Yvonne leans into her, Ryan and Lucas both try to pry the girls apart.

"I'm not implying anything your being over sensitive again. Not everything revolves around you, not everything is an attack against you." Nelle pushes Lucas away at the same time Yvonne steps around Ryan. They both walk away throwing their hands up in the air. "Go on, admit it, your self centered. Everything has to be about you, poor Yvonne's had it the worst that's why she's always carrying a chip on her shoulder"

"As apposed to little miss perfect. You prance about like you've never done anything wrong in your life" Yvonne steps in closer.

"Enough!" Sky steps between them. "This isn't about you two, for once in your miserable lives can you focus on someone else's pain? Aissa is hurting and you two are at each other's neck's again!"

"Sorry little miss sunshine and giggles, did we interrupt the combya?" Yvonne pushes Sky away.

Anissa gasps at them. " Yvonne! Don't you take your frustration out on Sky"

"Yaa that's what your boy toy is for" Nelle glares at her

Ryan 's eyebrow reaches for the sky. "Boy toy?"

"Don't get involved man" Mathew shakes his head.

"Yaa I know better" Ryan rolls his eyes at them.

"Well you had to learn sooner or later" Lucas jabs at him, Ryan rolls with it smiling at him. Lucas gets thrown for a loop when he doesn't argue back, he's thinks of it as doing his part to keep fearless on his toes.

Anissa's shrill voice cuts throw the air "It has nothing to do with that!"

Yvonne's voice drips with sarcasm. "Of course not, you just got your panties in a twist over nothing"

"Nothing is in a twist about anything!" Anissa feels her cheeks heat up, turing to Nelle for help. "Make her stop!"

"Don't go hiding behind little miss innocent, god learn to fight your own battles already"

"I didn't start this!" Anissa feels the burning sensation start in her eyes. "I'm tired, I'm scare for everyone we keep leaving behind" She scrunched her face up refusing to cry right now. "I'm hungry and I have a headache"

"Excuses excuses! Always with …"

"Yvonne stop it already!" Nelle starts searching for a Kleenex. "Your upsetting everyone again"

"Why do you have to he so mean!" Sky pouts at her again. "What happened that was so bad already!"

The guys freeze at this.

Yvonne stammers. "What happened? Oh I don't know, I got beat up by my ex, my parents did nothing about it"

"Oh get over it already!" Sky snaps at her. "You won't see what's in front of you if you keep looking back"

Yvonne shrikes at them. " "I know what's in front of me! And I'm damn lucky, don't think I don't know how lucky I am! If I didn't care I wouldn't be here right now"

"Then try acting like it" Nelle finally finds what she's looking for. "Here" she hands it over to a sniffling Anissa.

"I can't help if I don't know what's wrong!" Yvonne shouts at them

Anissa cracks. "Then stop yelling at everyone! Go for a ride and blow some steam off already!"

Ryan frowns at them. "Again with that?"

"I meant in the car!" Anissa screams at him, making them all back up. "Not everything has to do with THAT ok!"

"You clearly need to vent some steam, next chance you get ok" Yvonne sighs at this.

They watch Anissa's face turn dark red, she holds her breath and they can almost see the steam rolling out her ears. Her left eye twitches and they get concerned about how stiff her back is, finally she boils over on them. She sucks in air and lets it all come tumbling out. "Not that I don't love it when we go for long walks, or hours on end conversation about some of the most fascinating topics ever but the coffee shop is so far away and he doesn't ever drive and my legs always hurt after!" Nelle goes wide eye in horror but the words keep coming. "I don't know where I stand or what I even am to him, I don't even get kisses or hugs to let me know!" Sky is frantically trying to signal for her to stop. Even Yvonne is pleading with her not so sublet jesters to cease her talking. "At this rate my love life is going to run on battery's!" she runs out of steam and see's the boys blinking at her. "Sensei is right behind me isn't he"

A familiar throat is cleared and Anissa shrivels in on herself. "Yes I am. Though I am proud to hear at least one of my son's is taking his time, I am very perplexed as too why you are so upset about that at a time like this"

Anissa cracks a bit more. They all see it as her eyes well up and the damn breaks, she turns on her heels and high tails it out into the open field. Sensei signs at them. "Really Yvonne? You had to pick now to force it all out into the open?" She curls in rubbing at her arm. "Nelle you should have put a stop to it much sooner" Nelle crumples the unused Kleenex back into her pocket without looking anyone in eye. "Sky you did not help that situation. I can't say for certain if you added anything to the fire yet, but you did not help it all by pushing Yvonne's buttons like that." Sky tears up looking at the ground. "Lucas" He puts his hands up in the air, Ryan and Mathew fallow suit. "Good survival skill set you three have, it is always best to stay out of a woman's war path. Darin…?" He looks back at the car but his last son isn't there, they pause to look around the parking lot, but realize he must have gone after Anissa. "Good he is taking care of her. The rest of you sort it out and get the stuff back in the cars, we need to be leaving I take it?"

"Yaa, how did you find us?" Mathew looks around but doesn't spot the van.

"I spotted Lucas's car from the highway and pulled in. Since we don't have a cell phone I figured we would sleep in the van for the night, when low and behold Sky's parents showed up in the RV. They kindly offered us a spot on the little couch in there, so I pulled farther back to make it look like we had traveled together the whole time"

"Have you been driving straight from home?" Lucas looked around, that was bad, that was over 6 hours on the road.

"Yes, I did this trip many times before"

"Yaa but... always with mom, she knew the route best" Lucas rings his shirt. "I'm sorry dad, I forgot grand-papa's gift back at home"

"Oh no!" Ryan face palms and Mathew sinks to his knees pulling that famous scream painting face.

"It is ok my son's, he would want you out of the city and safe, but while I waited for the class to show up we packed up our weapons and training Equipment. Wouldn't want anyone unskilled and untrained to stumble across those. Thanks to all that space left after taking some of the supplies with you" Lucas sucks in air

"Busted" Ryan grins at him.

"In a good way. Telling me we had most of the supplies forced our hand into following you out here. Otherwise I may have tried to save more. I was wondering how we would fit all that equipment in up until I saw the space. But I also knew it wouldn't last long so we still needed to fallow you, and it's a good thing we did." he points out to the open road with flashing lights headed in their direction. "Get your brother now. I will wake the others" he takes off back into the darkness while Lucas and Ryan take off into the tall grass. Nelle and Yvonne figure it out, three boys in one car, three girls in another car. And the two that need some alone time to figure it out get the van with dad and mom's cool level heads for help.

"Anissa?" Darin grabs her hand to get her attention. "Please stop" He plants his foot and won't let her hand slip out again. "They can't see never mind hear us anymore" He jerks her back into his arms and she falls with a sob into his chest. "I'm sorry." He starts with that, letting her cry it all out. After the tremors stop, the crying settles down and the sound of the odd sniffle reaches his ears he relaxes his grip around her shoulders. "I know I move slow. I thought it would seem all romantic, girls like that stuff right?" She tries not to laugh at him, he doesn't even mind that she beats her fist against his chest before continuing. "One day, I'm just not ready yet, do you mind waiting a bit longer for me?"

"I don't mind waiting at all" She finally sniffles out. "I want more, a little more then just walks and holding hands. It's very sweet and I do love how this is going, but I keep seeing everyone else and wonder if your holding back from me for other reasons." She hiccups. "Chloe is right, I don't hold a candle to you, why would you want to be with me?"

"Because you don't make everything a competition. I want to enjoy my time away from my bothers and fellow scientist without having to prove to my girl that I am as smart as they say I am. Chloe is always trying to one up me and it's annoying. You asked a question to get an answer, then let it go. It's the only time anyone let's it go without needing me to explain it to them. Or needing to prove I was right or them asking even more questions to see how much I have crammed in me head." He squeezed her closer to him. "I care so much and I don't want to mess this up, so I moved slow, slower then I wanted to. A lot slower then I keep thinking about, but we're not ready yet, I won't rush in like that. And I love our long walks that leave my legs and feet screaming murder at me as well. But if I drove then they wouldn't last as long, and I would have to go back to doing other things faster then I want too." In the distance they see the lights and hear his brothers looking for them. "Lets get throw this nightmare and then we can talk some more about it?" he pulls back to see her tear stained face with a smile pulling at the edges of her lips. "That's better, I hate seeing you upset like that." he uses his thumb to clear the last of the tears away, watches her eye soften up and thinks to himself to hell with it. A gentle press to her forehead. She relaxes into him as the crash sounds stop short of them. He tries not to laugh at his brother's trying not to interrupt them, can even hear them trying to back it up but Anissa giggles first.

"Sorry" Lucas whisper shouts at them "Gotta go"

"Later?" Darin checks one last time.

"Later." She agrees, she takes the offered hand but hides her face in his shoulder when she see's his brothers. Thanking her lucky starts it doesn't include Mathew. "I wasn't complaining, just frustrated and too tired to keep it all inside any longer"

"I know" Darin owes Lucas and Ryan big time for walking without a word about any if it. At least his dad can rest easy knowing he's not breaking any rules… wait was that even in question? Later, he tells himself, worry about it later right now they need to pick up the pace. "Run" Darin takes off. "Their going to mark it and blow shit up" they spot the lights going dark, cars slowing down to a crawl. A lone figure gets out, only their well trained eyes see the glances of dulled metal flashing as a single person goes for high ground. They burst back into the parking lot. "They lost control, flee!" Darin points at the single red dot making its way down the side of the building. "No head lights!"

"Oh god were not gonna make it!" Anissa points at the second red dot on another side of the building. Once they were level it was game over for them.


	5. Chapter 5

the small town to the east.

They watch from the RV as Sky climbs into her friends old beater of a car. Not at all worried, they made sure it was well up to par in safety standards. They watched the red lights getting closer as Nelle turns the car on, watch the other boys run for their car and realized that Darin and Anissa won't make it. The van moves so slow and with all that stuff in it, even slower. They needed more time. She grips his hand as he pulls forward not needing to talk about it. She hits call then speaker phone, as they drive towards the government men.

"Mom?" Sky's voice is like a soothing balm for their tired souls

"We love you baby, so much" Sky's parents hit their high beams. "Keep her safe for us!" She hangs up as they fish tail it out of the parking lot, making tires scream as they leave in the opposite direction.

"No!" Sky beats on the window as realization sinks in. Yvonna's car bounces as it travels across the grass, Yvonne's too tight embrace doing nothing for her.

Nelle's phone goes off "They gave us extra time. Don't waste it, drive faster." They spot Sky's parents making a mess, the RV cantering all over the road, some unmarked cars joined in pursuit. While the vehicles lumber over the hill unseen. Not five minutes later the sky lights up shaking the cars around. Mathew sobs in his spot, Ryan can't stop looking and Lucas feels like throwing up. Their government killed those people. Cold blooded murder all in an attempt to control something that they don't even realize is already out of control.

Hours later Mathew's hands are stuck to the steering wheel as the sun comes up over the horizon. The horror of what he saw giving way to his body's basic needs. "That wasn't enough sleep."

"Do you need to rest?" Ryan looks at Lucas behind them. His face ghostly white. "Get some sleep Lucas, Anissa said it was bad for you to be stressed right now." He flops over, pulling a blanket with him despite the heater still going full blast even now. None of them feeling warm despite the sweat rolling down their backs.

Yvonna's car swerved ahead of them before pulling over. After coming to a stop Sky jumps out of the car screaming and crying. Yvonne and Nelle desperately try to calm her down. Nelle has a new black eye and Yvonne a few deep scratch on her arm, a bruse foarming on her cheek. Sky is still yelling at them when Mathew wraps his arms around her. It proves to be her undoing. She collapses, tears pouring down her face, she shakes from head to toe and can't get a coherent word out.

"They would be detained Sky. At best let go in a few days, at worst some jail time, but they will be alive" Darin offers up, making Sky look at him. "I promise their still alive." he shouldn't make that promise, for all he knows they took a bullet to the brain after it was all done. Anything could be possible after what he saw. But Sky needed to believe otherwise, so he did what he had too. A distraught Sky was a sick Sky, and sick could be so much worse right now.

Sky screams at them "We should have told them what we know, those people didn't have to die!"

Darin shakes his head at her. "We don't know anything until we prove it, and that could cause panic." He drags a hand down his face, shoulders dropping down. "If we tell the government that everyone is sick, that it's just a matter of time before every last person on this planet could become one of these infected people... it'll start riots in the streets, they could start blowing everything up at the slightest indicated that someone might be turning"

"No! We don't know that!" Sky lunges forwards but Mathew pulls her back

Anissa steps up looking calm before slapping Sky startling them all. "Yes we do, calm yourself already" She turns to Lucas next leaning against the car. "So what's next?"

"Get to the farm house, set up a defensive grid, grab more supplies." Lucas held up a finger, and took ten paces away from them, already on his phone. They figured he was calling Kandace, seeing if her dad could pull something for them. Fat chance of that, but at least he was trying. It was a short lived talk before he came back with a smile, Sky looked ready to bash it off his face. "Kandace will look into it for us, her dad's connection might let us know more, it's the best we can do. For now lets keep moving, they wanted you safe above all else, lets not back track now"

"We did not pack enough medical supplies for this" Anissa rummaged throw the small med kit to give Nells some pain killers and to wrap up Yvonne's arm for her. "Guess I'll drive for a bit" Sky crawls into the van with Mathew and his parents while Darin joins his other brothers.

"I slept most of the last four hours, let me drive, you two need sleep." Darin hops in the drivers side, puts on some classical music knowing they will fall sleep faster with it on. Pulls in behind Anissa with his dad still driving the van.

Another four hours later it's a call from Mathew that has everyone pulling over again. Their parents needs sleep, their having trouble keeping their eyes open. So they pull over onto the side, and roll out a mat for them and Lucas to grab a few more zzz's. Not 20 minutes later a state trooper pulls up beside them.

Ryan's leaning against Nelle's car, trying to stay warm in the sun "Afternoon office" Ryan tips his head in acknowledgment. "We're not in the way are we?" pleasantries never got him into trouble before. Here's to hoping that they keep him out of trouble again.

"Afternoon young man, no you seem to be off the road far enough was just stopping to see if you where having any car troubles that's all." he smiled at him and Ryan feels his shoulders relax.

"Oh not at all sir, his brother is a fine mechanic" Nelle put her best smile in place. "Some of our drivers didn't drink enough coffee and were hoping for a nap before we went any further that's all." Ryan felt like raising his eyebrow at her lying so smoothly, but let it go for now. He could questions it later.

"Well then may I suggest Mrs. Pies coffee shop down this road. Some of the best coffee and sweet tea around ma'ma." he tips his hat at her with a big smile on his face, his eyes even scrunch up at the corners.

"Sounds delightful sir" Ryan leans back, letting Nelle talk their way out of any trouble before it starts up.

"Where you folks headed if you don't mind me asking?" Ryan felt his shoulders tighten up again.

"Oh not at all, we're heading up to their family farm house for a little bit that's all" Nelle kept her smile in place.

"In the middle of the school year?" Crap, Ryan tenses up even more.

"It's a family thing, ever year for the last 10 years we head up here sir" Mathew gets out of the car. "To go visit mom"

"Well what she doing way out in the middle of no where?" he doesn't mean nothing by it, big smile still on his face, shoulders relaxed and resting most of his weight on one leg.

"Cuz it was mom's favorite place to visit when we were kids, we bring her up with us, but she can't enjoy the sun anymore." Mathew's breath shakes a little and the trooper gets his drift.

His face sobers up and takes a step back. "Well I'm sorry to hear that son, the sun sure does shin pretty first thing in the morning these days." he nods once at them again. "Be sure to stop by Mrs. Pies coffee shop and get your self's some coffee and tea, safe travels ok." he walks back to his car and waves as he goes on his way.

"Too close." Ryan sighs looking at his clock, dad needs so much sleep right now but they shouldn't stay still for long. If their still here when he makes his way back, probably in like 20 minutes their cover story will be blow to pieces. "Ok, lets go get some coffee and tea. Darin, Anissa take the van. Mathew, Sky you take the car with Nelle, Yvonne you and me, lets try to act normal ok." he pauses Mathew before he can go anywhere. "Great idea Mathew, that was some fast thinking on your part." Mathew looks a little better around the edges at this as Ryan lets Yvonne drive first.

Sure enough, up the road like the trooper said it would be. Off the paved road, in a small run down gas station restaurant was some of the best sweet tea Ryan had ever had. He enjoyed two cups and got two to go for his dad and brother. Nelle, Anissa and Darin all had coffee, grabbing a cup for his mother. Sky, Mathew and Yvonne enjoyed some pop and some biscuits showed up. He'd be damned if he said they weren't some of the best biscuits he'd ever had as well. Bellies a little fuller, thirst quenched and gas all topped up they hit the road again. Leaving their dad and Lucas to nap as best as they could in the back of the van. Darin lay down for a nap a few hours later, and soon enough Mathew needed one as well. At least they where making great progress driving non stop like this. They take turns all day getting in short naps and driving till supper time, where they stop for more food.

Never has Ryan ever been so paranoid of sick people before. A couple cough and he wants to run. Lucas twitches when someone sniffles. Anissa looks ready to crack and hand out medicine to everyone. Mathew and Yvonne keep looking over their shoulders. Sky won't talk and Nelle is so lost in thoughts she forgets to add sugar and creamer to her coffee.

It's long past dark when they pull up into the farm house dusty drive way. It's been a few years since they came here, and it looked the part of an old abandoned home. Thankfully no broken windows.

"Why didn't dad sell it?" Mathew asked stretching in the back seat.

"Mom grew up here, he can't bare the thought of it getting torn down. Three generations it's belonged to them, one day she hoped to pass it onto one of us" Lucas answer taking a look at it. He should have helped dad upkeep it.

"Ick" Yvonne pulled her grime covered hand back from the porch.

"No Internet!" Anissa groaned looking at her phone.

"Its so quiet here" Nelle looked around her then screamed when a bat flew into her face. "I take it back, I wanna go home"

"Its perfect." Sky looked on with stars in her eyes. "Trees to play in, I can hear the babbling Brooke from here." She closed her eyes briefly and turned her head. "That barn will be a good place to set up your lab." She slaps Darin on the arm once before pointing at it, she takes off around the corner and screams in delight. "I can grow a garden back here!"

"Guess it's going to Mathew" Ryan whaps him on the back as he walks up the front steps.

"Oh goodie" Mathew drags his feet but wonders what it would cost to get an Internet line out here, or how much it would cost to fix it all up. The plumbing needs to be redone, oh the electrical! That'll need to be up dated. Would Darin be able to boost a wireless signal this far?

"Too expensive" Lucas answers him. "Its a summer house anyway, the point is to get away and off the grid" yaa he would know what he's thinking about. Still this place needed some TLC. Or a lot of it. He watches Ryan jump up and away from a broad that cracks on him under the swing.

"Question is" Nelle looks at the kitchen in front of her. "How much fixing up do we do?"

"Enough to be livable inside but still look abandoned outside" Lucas answers again walking in behind her. "Very dim lights too, we don't want to advertise that someone is here"

"Why not? Won't that keep people away?" Anissa thumps a box down on the table.

"Careful with that!" Darin checks the label as she rolls her eyes at him.

"It will keep some people away, it could also invite the wrong kind of people in to see if there's some easy pickins here for the takin." Lucas nods at the random matrices on the floor. "Someone called this home while we were away." He grabs a pair of cleaning gloves, it hasn't been used in a while so hopefully the squatters don't come back any time soon.

"Take that out to the barn. Infected still sleep some times" Darin checks another label "Mathew's room" he pushes it towards him.

"You want one of those things around still?" Mathew picks it up, it's clothes so he can stand to stay and listen for a bit.

"I can't cure what I can't study. Plus what if one of us falls ill? Id rather have that then nothing at all out there" Darin looks for the next label but doesn't find one. "Must be Ryan's" he pushes the half crumpled box towards the far corner of the table. It titles making Lucas push it back towards the center.

"We should get a new one, that could make someone sick." Lucas grabs the sealed, undamaged and marked box knowing it's his.

"Getting a new bed will come with Questions and…" Darin stops at his dad's raised eyebrow.

"You boys will not fit your old beds. This is a house for four, we will have to buy new ones anyway. I will look into it, the girls will need some things as well" Everyone stops, horror pulling at their faces. They didn't grab the girls stuff before leaving. "In the morning we will go to town, from there a cell signal will be available. We can make the necessary calls then. The city will have been shut down, I'm sure someone is looking for you by now." he nods at Nelle, she scrambles for her phone, 34 missed calls, almost one every hour for the last two plus days.

"Oh mom's gonna be so mad that I missed all those"

"She"ll be happy to know you are safe, off to bed with everyone…"

"No go dad, someone needs to keep an eye out, I'll camp out on the roof for now, come get the next one in a few hours." Ryan takes the stairs two at time. "Will want to set up an early warning system too so we don't kill ourselves keeping watch 24/7. I spotted a few weak points I'll show everyone in the morning." he's down the hallway and up through the attic door without another word. They turn and look at Yvonne, who shrugs and places dibs on the love seat for the night.

Darin was not happy being second on watch. But refuses to wake the girls or Lucas. So he slumped his way up and waited for another three hours before getting Mathew. Who almost cried about having to get up again. Ryan was right, they needed to set something up, if he had to keep waking Mathew up he may end up killing him in his sleep. He revised that to just permanently scaring him after waking up to Mathew cooking breakfast. It's been years since he did that for them. He missed it. And only partly because he was lazy and a terrible cook. Unfortunately Mathew still got the orders mixed up, he got sunny side up instead of the scrambled he preferred. Or maybe he did it on purpose. Everyone else seemed to get what they liked. Even Anissa had scrambled eggs. He sighed and ate it anyway.

After breakfast they spent two hours unpacking most of the boxes. Dad, Lucas and Nelle would be making a trip into town shortly so a list of supplies was in order.

Food and medical was at the top. Female products where left with Nelle. Ryan wanted a bunch of wood and wire, he needed wood as well. Some burners and assorted chemicals list had Lucas blinking, wondering how he would located them. Or where to even start looking for them. That left dad with beds. An engine roared from down the drive way and a smile light up his face. Crispin's truck was just in time. He called out to the others and by the time they got out Amelia was already stretching her legs.

"Oh it's good to see you" Darin wrapped her up in a tight hug. "I need another chemist working different angles for me. How was your drive?"

Crispin slaps him on the shoulder. "Long dude, glade to see everyone is alright." He sniffles and Anissa is in his face, taking his temperature.

"Take it easy, take these, and like all 10 glasses of water today" Anissa marches him into the kitchen to over see him.

"So we figured something out" Darin scratches at the back of his head before explaining it to her.

"Crispin's been fighting a mild head cold for a few days now" Amelia confirms with him. "I need to sleep but you should go get some supplies, I'll start setting things up." She hands over the keys as Ryan helps Crispin bring in the last of their stuff.

"There's too many people for this sized house." Their dad does a head count. "We will have to make use of some other less needed rooms."

"And set up bathroom schedules. There's only one and 12 of us" Anissa looks over her list once more feeling like she missed something.

"Shower, I need a shower" Amelia attempted a sniff test, almost gaged on it too.

"Naa your fine babe" Crispin leaned against the porch swing.

"I told yaa, don't step... over there" A loud crash made everyone wince and left Crispin hip deep in trouble. Ryan sighed as he and Lucas moved around to the sides to pull him out of the new front porch hole. "Next time listen to me ok" Crispin muttered about the death trap house as he sulked over to the barn to check it out.

Sky came out of the house with a small sheet of rainbow colored paper. "If I'm going to start on a garden I need some stuff, it's too cold to plant outside but I can get us going with some stuff inside, if the budget allows for it." She shifts in her spot.

"Is something wrong?" Nelle takes the neat printed out list.

"I hope our room got incinerated in that blast" Everyone standing around looks at her. "I forgot my wallet at the hotel" She curls in, eyes ducked low and checks a bright red.

Darin pulls a hand down his face. "It better be in ash, for all our sake"

"Aww it's one wallet, why does it matter?" Mathew grabs Sky's hand, rubbing small circles across her knuckles

"Because a name, like on a photo ID will have her address on it. They'll know a bunch of people got out of NYC before the bridges where shut down, they'll think we're the reason those people got sick. They could blame us for it!" Darin tugs on his shirt.

"All they have to do is check the hotel guests books" Yvonne rubs at her arm. "They have all my information already, guess we can't use my cards or money then"

"Sky's parents where taken into custody, they'll know she was there already, finding her ID shouldn't be an issue. Yvonne left her parents place a few nights ago, who's to say Sky wasn't out here trying to convince Yvonne to come back home?" Lucas taps a finger thinking about it. "But no we can't use your money, you two should be dead back at that hotel, so no going into town either"

Ryan slaps a hand to his face, making a loud sound. "That trooper saw us, then at Mrs. Pies coffee shop they saw them with us, they could be tracking our progress already"

"They never got our names, until someone finds the ID but they can't find a body to match it they won't come looking for us." Anissa pouts at her thoughts. "Identifying all those people will take months, if not longer" she rubs her chin thinking about it some more. "I would suggest a road trip for you two." She nods at Ryan and Yvonne. "Take a car and head further away from here, it'll give them a false trail away from us should they come looking. When your card stops being used, they will think you finally succumbed to the infection your carrying around or went off the grid. Just leave money in your account, we will need to pay for gas at some point to get back home after a cure is found"

"What about me?" Mathew points to himself. "Front desk saw me too"

"Assuming front desk didn't die in the bombing, if they don't have your name all they can do is inform anyone looking into it that a young male was with them. A description if they remembered you three in particular" Darin looks at the list in front of them. "I'm more concerned about what your parents may or may not have said or let slip during the integration prior to being released. Or where they will go when they are released. Someone could fallow them to us as well"

Sky snorts first before rolling her eyes at this. "My parents will try to send a smoke signals first, but they won't come near us until they know for sure that there not being fallowed. Trust me, integration tactics one oh one. Never give them names, locations, times or codes. Second rule is never tell them who your with, what your agenda is, stuff like that" Sky shrugged it off. "If their alive and think it's safe to contact me they'll do so."

"I'll try Kandace again when I get into town, maybe her dad found something for us" Lucas places a hand on her shoulder. He kept forgetting how small she was. She had such a large personality, joyous, free loving and extremely touchy feel-ie. It had made everyone a little bit twitchy at first. Soon though the habit of hugging her back became second nature to them all, even their dad did it.

Lucas stopped for a moment and thought about his companions for a moment. Nelle yanked him out of his thoughts, sincere grey eyes looked up at him, he felt bad. "I'm sorry I was lost in thought, did you say something?"

"Nothing important, everyone's ready to go now" Nelle hugs into his side for a quick minute. His mind focused on the halo effects caused by the sun.

He smiles down at her, bopping her nose. "Ok, lets get this gong show on the road"

… … …

"Alright, good old fashion divide and conquer." Lucas waves at his dad, driving the van to the furniture store up the block. Ryan was already headed for the lumber store, he wasn't worried that it was on the other side of town, because from this hill they were on he could see everything in town. He pulled to a stop in front of a pharmacy, thinking it was his best hope. Nelle beside him was quite. "Is something wrong?"

She tugs on her one hand. "You need to call Kandace. Can I be here for this call?" head still bowed, she restlessly pulls on her sleeve edge.

"It would makes more sense to get supplies first" he looks over at the tiny cosmetics store.

"I can get everything we need from here too." Only Lucas's well trained senses pick up the quiver in her tiny sigh. "But if you don't want me to be around for the call that's ok, I trust you"

Crap. He did something wrong again. Double crap his dad wasn't here to help him. Trippled crap, Ryan wasn't here either… Oh how the might have fallen. Yes he was that desperate to even wish for Ryan's version of relationship help right now. One itty bitty upset sigh and an -I trust you- prep talk has his mind frozen in fear. What did he do? Ok think, she gave you a clue you just need to realize it. Trust me, that's good… wait no, it was in doubt, so he did something to upset her and make her worry about… Something, but what? He wanted to pull his hair out and scream bloody murder.

AAARRGFULGRAAA! Woman, they can be so frustrating!

It's not like he's a mind reader or something, if she was bothered by something then she should just say it already

… He was being hypocritical. Something was wrong and rather than asking for clarification he was trying to decode this on his own. Rubbing at his tender temples, pain making its presence know behind his left eye, he pulled the E-break up harshly into its spot. "I can't say sorry if I don't know what's wrong. Please tell me what it is that I have done to make you worry. Why would you not trust me?" her checks flush as she ravages her shirt sleeve. "Did I say something to make you worry?" she shakes her head no. "Did I do something wrong?" she pauses but nodes yes at this. "Something to do with Kandace?" he tries again. Her eyes leak a few tears and he feels like bashing his head into the steering wheel. His mind provides him with a fantastic little movie of how that would go down. Instead he sighs at everything. "I still don't know what is wrong..." He wants to say sorry and get this over with but she can't think not talking and tears will always get her what she wants. You can't be sorry if you don't know what is wrong. He's not about to lie to her.

"Something went wrong, you went to her. Intel was gathered about the virus, again you went straight to her. It seems that whenever something happens you go to her. To get her option, to check on her, to warn her, to get her help." she fights the tears, it's not nice or fair to cry in a fight.

"Technical," Lucas drums his fingers on the steering wheel. "I'm going to her father that wanted my dojo shut down for breaking up with her." He sighs loud and long letting some of the frustration out. "Look Kandace was apart of my life for a long time, she started training before I did. She's crazy good, an equal in most things we ever did together." He takes a deep breath, exhales slowly. "But I am with you, not her. It's not easy for me to ask of such things from a man that tried his best to kill my family's business. We're still picking some of the pieces up too. Again, I am with you, not her." He wrangles a hand to him, laying a delicate kiss on her knuckles. "You can always sit and listen to my conversation if it will put your mind at ease. Knowing her it won't be long anyway." He pulls his cell phone out, happy to see full bars. "You still need to call your mom too" He hit speaker as the phone connected and it started ringing. Second ring like always, no matter what else was going on.

"Hey Lucas" her voice purred through the phone. "Why you calling so early?"

He sounded irritated. "Hey Kandace, how's your dad holding out?" he must have woken her up, that's the only time she let's her voice be unguarded.

"Terrible" her voice started smoothing over into her every day mono tone. "Mom's gotten worse, he ordered a few guards to go pick up extra medical and food rations. How is everyone one there holding out?"

"Doing alright, we have cell service at the moment so I thought I would call to see if there was any word yet on Sky's parents. She's not doing so well, I'm positive she thinks their dead and that we left them to die" Lucas sighs

"Sorry Lucas, a request like that takes time and I haven't heard anything from anyone yet. Sorry, I don't have anything to tell her" at least she sounded sincere about it. "Is there anything else that I can or should be working on from my end?"

"Not that I can think of" Nelle puts her hand up. "But Nelle might have an idea"

"Hey Kandace" Nelle blushes at this.

Kandace is cold in return. "Hello Nelle" To be fair she was dumped so he could date her, Nelle understood where the basis hate came from. Hell any chick would be angry about it, she certainly wouldn't be civil if there was anyone after her.

"We bunked at a hotel that got blown up"

"I already know this"

"Yvonne was the one that checked in. They saw Mathew too, but Sky left her wallet behind"

Karia snarled. "Stupid girl. I'll see if they have a list of who was at the hotel yet, confirmed dead and if their blaming you guys for the random out break." Some buzzing sound from her end, she calls for someone but it's muffled. "Good idea checking that angle. If their blaming you guys you need to leave a false trail behind. I'll pull a favor and get back to you tonight so hang out by cell service or be around it by 9 tonight ok"

"Will do" Nelle nods at this. "Thank you Kandace" she hangs up without another word, to them at least. "How… abrupt of her" Nelle pushes her lips at this.

"Yaa… you get use to it after a while" Lucas rubs the back of his head messing up his hair. "we should get our hair cut too" he pulls a few strands down him forehead, they cover part of his eye. Nelle grips her hair, holding it tight to her. "A trim at least then to get ride of the dead ends, it could be a while before we can have them again"

"Fine" Nelle relented at once, he had a point… as usual. Then points to the last door at the end of the tiny strip mall on the other side of the street. "Lets see what supplies we can grab."

"Call your mom first" Lucas nods at her purse knowing her phone is in it.

"Fine" dear lord she was starting to sound like a yes person. She dials the number and waits. She wasn't expecting any one to answer, on a Sunday morning her parents would be at church. Something she hadn't done in a while and was consistently being harassed about.

"Nelle?" her mom half screams it. "Where are? Why haven't you been answering your phone? Your father and brother are sick I need your help!"

"How sick?" Nelle rolls her eyes at her.

"Oh they have been tossing everything up that I try to feed them"

Nelle cringed at this, her mom wasn't a very good cook. "What have you been feeding them?"

There's an autable sigh from the other end. "Soup mostly, some KFC chicken, I don't have time to cook after work"

"Yaa, fast food is the worst thing for them, does anybody have blood shot eyes at all?"

"Your brother, how'd do you know this stuff?"

"Dad mostly, lock Joey up, and throw away the key"

"I will do no such thing!"

"He's about to turn into one of those infected people that attack other people" Nelle rubs at her temple. So not the way she thought this would go down.

"How do you know that?"

"Kandace's mom's eyes turned blood shot red about 12 hours before she turned on them, her dad woke up to the mrs. Chewing on his arm"

"Oh dear. Mrs. Sabb?"

"Yes"

"Ok, then what do I do?"

"The same if dad's eye go blood shot. Medicine the crap out of yourself and avoid anyone else that's sick, think of this as a second black plague ok. Everyone already has it, it's just a matter of succumbing to the virus or not"

"How do you know this stuff?"

"A little bird-y told me"

"Don't give me that sass, where are you? Why haven't you come home yet? The house needs to be cleaned again"

"Every week it needs to be cleaned mom"

"It was that science pair of friends you hang out, filling your head with that witch craft stuff wasn't it?"

"Oh yaa, Darin and Anissa are all about witch craft mom, they even dance nude by moon light chanting to the devil. They asked if I wanted to join them once but I was having too much fun sacrificing the unborn babies…"

Her mother shrieks at them "Nelle Prudence Whittemore!" Lucas was going blue he was trying not to laugh at the mental image in his head so hard. He banged his fist against the seat, head thrown back with tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Worth it" Nelle couldn't keep the smile off her face even as Lucas looked at her. "Yes mom it was Darin and Anissa, they figured it out after some help from Kandace and her dad. The infected virus seems to sneak in on a cold or flu virus first, waits for the immune system to be weakened before making its move. Almost sounds too smart for a nature made virus. Could it be man made?" Nelle stops caring that her mom is listening to take a good long hard look at Lucas, she could see his mind racing with the thought as well. He jot it down as a text message to Darin, his phone would save it as a draft until he could run it by him later. "Anyway I'm not in town, I'm safe with friends, I don't always have cell phone service so I couldn't answer your calls, take a damp cloth to anything that needs dusting. Take all your meds. Avoid sick people. I forget everything back home in my rush out of the city, so you have some extra supplies in my room but you'll want to go get as much extra as you can right now, not later"

"Who are you staying with?"

"Mr. and Mrs. Harlan is everyone's chaperone for the duration of this visit. His sons, Sky, Anissa, Yvonne, Amelia and Crispin are all here as well"

"I like Amelia, she's a nice girl. Very well, what do you have on you?"

"The clothes on my back and what ever is left in my bank account"

"I'll transfer some money to you than. Then I'll go buy some things and… I'm sorry for not listening to you sooner about this. you said to get out of the city but we didn't listen, when they shut down the bridges and the military showed up i knew it was too late." She can hear her mother typing on the clunky computer back home. "Mr and Mrs. Smith down the road turned on their grandchildren last night, your bother managed to help them escape into police custody but he was badly injured. I thought his current state was due to the bit marks on his arms. The lord has no say in this affair does he?"

"I hope their ok, no mom, it is unlikely that the lord has any say in this, but some strong prays never go amiss. Darin and Anissa may need help figuring this one out, and they'll take any and all the help they can get"

"Very well, your father is getting restless again, the money has been sent, take care and call me when you can ok dear"

"Ok mamma, take care of everyone for me" she can't help the tear that trickles down her face as she hangs up. "She's not going to listen to me is she?"

"Unlikely"

"She's gonna die before long too I bet"

"The odds are good on that too"

"Sorry" her phone beeps at her, an e-mail transfer has shown up in her inbox. "At least we don't have to worry about money right now" she flips the phone over, Lucas whistles at the amount. No expense spared apparently.

He shouldn't be surprised, her mom had taken Kandace's advice in hand and paid for lessons at the dojo. It's how they meet, he wonders if Kandace regretted that. Would they still be together if he had never meet Nelle? He doesn't think so, Kandace and him had been in a rocky place for a while. Having meet someone who didn't shut him out or yell at him drove it home for them. He was putting up with things that verged on abusive at times. Kandace wasn't bad, just didn't know any better. her mom isn't the nicest or most caring person you will ever meet. No, he stuck to him guns, Kandace and him were over long before he meet Nelle, they just hadn't broken up yet. "Maybe I haven't been as good a boyfriend as I should be" Nelle opens her mouth to protest but he stops her. "In my hast to get out of dangers way I made contact and an inappropriate move to secure just one more safe location. With someone that I shouldn't have. I said it once before but I'm saying it again. I am sorry, I should have consulted you about who I was going to, and to make sure you where ok with it. I need to apologize to my family again for that." He holds her hands in his. "Once again in my hast, I put my family ahead of yours. Neglecting to not only get your family to safety but forgetting your stuff as well. Resulting in our current predicament." He rubs small soothing circles across her knuckles, trying not to smile his way out of trouble. Mathew has been a bad influence on him that way. He was damned to hell but Mathew was right, a smile at the right time could change the whole outcome of a fight. "Now I'm having private conversation with someone I shouldn't be. Trust is a fragile thing and I have been giving you reasons to not trust me. Yet I still seem to have it when I doubt I should and I wonder what I did to find a woman like you. One so good and loving and perfect and…" he looks up as she starts giggling at him.

"You are just… perfect when you get nervous and starts rambling like that." Her smile tugs at her lips edges, her eyes half closed in their blithe. She down casts her eyes and it's intoxicating how she plays shy.

"I don't deserve you" Lucas snaps him mouth closed having never intended to say that out loud.

"I think you have that backwards, it is I that doesn't deserve to be with someone as good as you." And like so she's back to playing innocent. "You are a man of honor, your trust and loyalty should never be questioned"

"Trust in earned" Lucas tilts her head back up so he can look her in the eye. "I would never ask anyone to fallow me blindly. It was my own misgivings and secret actions that are to blame. Had I not acted in such ways then there would have been no reason to doubt me." Movement outside the car grabs his attention. Just a stranger walking by. "We need to get moving, care to join me in deciphering Darin's list?"

She laughs at this. "Ok, but that means your with me in the feminine products" he winces at this but agrees to it.

Once inside the store they start decoding Darin's words but give up and ask the pharmacies for help. They point out what he was asking for and Lucas throws his hands up. "So what didn't he just ask for that!"

She cant keep a straight face try as she might. "Because secretly he hates you, and is hoping that one day your brain will implode with his witch craft voodoo words." he blinks at her, a little slow and unsure before they both bust a gut laughing. That stranger from before walks by again and Lucas wants to ignore him and confront him at the same time. "Yaa I see him, lets grab what we need and get out of here ok?" her smile is still in place with some color in her cheeks, he's glad that she picked up on it but hasn't let it effect her high spirits.

"Ok" he loops an arm around her shoulder

"Besides we need to hit up a mall and get some cloths for the girls, most left with not much either"

"I thought girls didn't like it when someone else buys them cloths?" He thinks back to his failed shirt for a birthday gift. It had been a good fit, but Kandace didn't like the band that much, she had accepted it with grace but he knew she didn't like it that much.

"Normally your right, so I'll grab a few basics in the right sizes and some color options. We will have to make due for now" they load up on what they hope is the right amount of chemicals and a lot of hygiene products. The cashier looks at them funny but doesn't say anything. Next they toss it all inside the trunk and hop over to a clothing store. Nelle proceeds to grab a variety of tank tops in sizes, colors, lengths and strap width. Some short and long sleeved tops make it in as well, she tosses a few over shirts in for good measure. She grabs tiny flared jeans for Sky, black skinnys for Yvonne and leggings for herself and Anissa. "Good thing mom sent money, we still need groceries" she looked at her cart full of clothing. At least the basics didn't cost much, they would have to make due with the small amount of clothing they would have.

"Restocking your closet dear?" the cashier beamed at them

"Oh, yaa something like that" Nelle smiled back, they didn't think of a cover story for all this!

Lucas hugged her from the side. "My moms old family farm isn't far from here, my girl" he bopped her on the nose again. "Had the best idea to save space on the trip up here" Nelle kept the smile in place. "Just save up and buy new stuff when we got here. We're fixing it up, making it our own and plan on coming more often. So why haul a summers amount of clothing around when we can just add a bunch at a time while we make all the improvements. I have three brothers and her three friends all came up to help"

The lady gasps at this. "My that is a lot of people for one farm house!"

"My parents and two other friends are here to help, we want it ready for the summer. We do travel in a large pack I guess" Lucas smiles dodging her next question.

"Where you folks from?"

"My tech savvy brother is dying without Internet first day in. I was wondering who the local provider was and how much it might cost. The farm house needs four additional bedrooms, at least two more bathrooms. The kitchen, front porch and barn all need some TLC"

"And the garden needs to be up sized if we're to make it usable for fresh veggies"

"Oh that's the big corp guys, it'll take a few days for them to get out here to look at it, don't let them over charge you!" She waves a finger at them. "They already have lines established out here, it won't take as much to get a line out for you as they first say it will." She pulls out a binder, rips a loss left sheet out the back and jots down names and numbers as she goes. "I'm not sure about price ok dearies so be very careful, I would worry about that last personally." She takes a quick look around and deems it safe enough to whisper at them. "Mrs Smith up the street will take care of all your gardening needs. Avoid the shop down the street, they over charge on almost everything!" she looks so flabbergasted at this, huffing out in her annoyance before finally returning to a normal speaking volume. "Anyway Jim owns the lumber store, he'll be sure to help you out and give you a deal to boot for such a large project." She points at the third number with an address on it. "Next go see Mr. & Mrs. Jordan for some beautiful hand made wooden swing sets for the front porch."

Lucas couldn't help but tense up when he saw that man creeping around the corner again. "Who's that?" he asked nodding at the guy, who ducked back around the corner when the lady turned to see who he was talking about.

"Oh that's old Billy's son, just ignore him, hes a busy body gossip guy that has to know everything about everyone." she yelled out to him. "You leave the new folks in town alone you here me Gorge!" the guy nodded a few times leaving the store. "Hes harmless, just not a lot of folks his age around here"

"Poor guy, must be lonely out here for him" Nelle didn't see the lady twitch at this but Lucas sure did.

"Oh Gorge has plenty of friends around" She waved this off but alarm bells where screaming in Lucas's head.

"Maybe we should say hi?" Nelle looked over at Lucas and saw his shoulders getting higher up and his neck getting shorter. He was worried about something.

"Oh no dearies don't you worried about Gorge, he's a strange one and best left to himself. Here," She handed Nelle a magazine from beside her till, Nelle smiled and tucked it away without looking at it. Lucas saw the bold print too well. Self defense classes now available. "And you be a good man and keep an eye on that one ok. She's a real pretty thing" her smile doesn't reach her eyes and Nelle finally sees a potential problem.

"I always keep her close by, not that she needs me to keep her safe. She's been training for a few years now for that reason." Lucas nods, Nelle tightens her grip on his arm as the lady relaxes a bit at this.

"Excellent! Well I hope that helps, come on by again if you need anything else ok dearies." she smiles at them pushing total and Nell couldn't be happier that her mom only knows how to spend and send money in large quantities.

They toss the clothing in the trunk and hit up the small grocery store in town at the other end of the strip mall. It's tiny, a produce/deli and baker section all in one tiny. Someone is making fresh pies and Nelle drolls on the inside. "Can we get a pie?" she meanders away when Lucas is looking over the vegetables and is not impressed with the selection.

"Hey" Lucas diverts from his plan to fallow behind Nelle when that Gorge guy comes creeping again. "You heard the lady, I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on you, Gorge is back"

"And like you said I don't need you to keep me safe" She turns around and waves at the shy boy. His eyes go up, his cheeks flush and he darts back around the corner. "That's what I've been training for remember"

"Two years isn't enough training time, you just got your yellow Kyu a few months ago…"

"Well it's better then just the white belt"

"…Obi"

"That means belt in Japanese, what's the difference? Oh My God!" Nelle narrows her eyes, balls her hands up in fist and feels the red spreading up her neck and across her cheeks as Lucas surrenders with raised hands. "You don't think I can handle myself in a real fight!"

"I plead the fifth"

"… You…. Asshole!" her shoulders shake and a tear springs back into her eyes. "You said I was getting better all the time!"

"You are"

Her eye twitches at his interruption "You said I was showing skills in archery!"

"Very much so" he try's again.

"You said I was…" Lucas places a hand over her mouth and watches the tears flow. All she would have to do is take a step back but she stands there glaring a hole into his head.

"You are improving everyday, but a dojo is a secure environment with rules in place to keep everyone safe. Out here if someone really wanted to do you harm I fear you may freeze up. It takes years and years of training AND sparring to get you muscles to help you if your head can't. And you simply haven't put the time in, yet" Lucas takes his hand away. "In a few more years I wouldn't worry as much, but for now will you please stick to my side and listen if I say run away?"

She huffs out, tossed her head to think about it. Spots Lucas waiting even though they both know what she's going to say. Air puffs out again, face scrunched up in distaste. "Fine, yes I'll stick by your side and listen… for now"

"Thank you, now lets grab some grub and head to meet up with dad and Ryan"

Another hour later they were loading up the van with their stuff. It would be another two hours before Kandace would call and they had frozen things that couldn't wait that long. Frezzer bags only work for a little bit. So off their dad and Ryan went, both hauling their goodies away. "Well I guess we can go check out this Mr. & Mrs. Jordan about a new porch swing?" Lucas suggests.

"Sure" Nelle hops in the car and off to the house, only missing the right turn once. "It just kind of pops up on yaa there hey" Nelle made note of the very large tree growing right beside their turn off.

"Yaa, that's ok we got time" once stopped he runs around to open her door for her while she fidgets with her purse

"You know you don't have to do that for me" Nelle blushes at this, she feels silly every time he does it.

"Yaa but I like too, and you almost race me out of the car to avoid it, so when I can I do it." Lucas held his arm out. Something about this odd little town was pulling his best manners forwards. It was like taking a step back in time to when a gentleman was expected to act in such ways. Together they walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. Both had a smile in place when an older plump lady with graying hair opened the door to them. Wrinkles decorated her face, speaking of years well spent loving and laughing. "I smell cookies" Nelle giggled beside Lucas as his face went a deep red. "I mean good evening" the lady was too busy laughing to answer. Her thin, equally wrinkled with graying hair husband stepped around her to finish opening up the door.

"Good evening indeed young man," his face split with his grin. "The mrs. Just finished making cookie, but I'm guessing that's not the reason you two came by today"

Poor Lucas was red as a tomato, at a loss for words and just standing there. Nelle managed to calm her self enough to speak up. "Yes sir. The cookies smell delightful by the way. But we were directed here by the cashier at the clothing store"

"Aaa miss Angelo"

"Yes, we're new around here and looking to fix up his mother's old farm house. The porch swing is a goner" Nelle felt Lucas shift a little beside her.

"We were rough on it as kids" he felt a smile tug at him.

"Oh! I knew you looked familiar!" Mrs. Jordan pats at her husbands arm. "Your much older now, but your Mr. & Mrs. Harlan's oldest boy, Lucas right?"

Lucas startles at this. "Umm, yes I am, I'm sorry you don't look familiar to me at all"

"Oh I'm not surprised you were just a wee thing at the time, you have a younger brother right?"

"Three" Lucas thinks about it again. "We were starting to fix it up but a few things went wrong, some bills stacked up and then..."

"Then what dear? Tanis loves that old farm house"

"Loved" Lucas corrects again.

"Mrs. Harlan passed away 12 years ago, it was an accident late one night after work." Nelle squeezed Lucas's arm as both Mr. & Mrs. Jordan's face fell at the news.

"Oh you poor things, come in come in" Mrs. Jordan opens the door wide. Mr. Jordan closes the door behind them with a somber face. She sits them down at an old country table in a cozy little kitchen with the smell of fresh baked cookies surrounding them. "Here" Mrs. Jordan puts a plate of cookies down in front of them as Mr. Jordan grabs glasses to fill with milk.

"Thank you" Lucas nods taking a bite. "I remember these" he smiles at the memory. "Mom came back with them last time we were out here, she never could figure out what you added that made them so gooie on the inside"

Mrs. Jordan beams at this, still keeping her secret to herself. "Family recipe" She looks up at her husband, they share a look and finally she looks back at them. "If it isn't too hard on you, may I ask what happened? Tanis was such a careful driver"

"Mom was a very good driver, very safe. No it wasn't mom's driving but an underage joy rider running a red light that night. In the middle of winter her car went over the bridge railing" Lucas gulps, he hasn't given it much thought over the years. "Dad was at home waiting for reinforcement to come, Darin didn't want to go to bed," they let Lucas get lost in his thoughts recalling it all. "When that phone rang as the police walked up to the door I knew something was wrong. Still I answered as dad got the door, I told the lady that some men where already here to talk to dad about it. She said her apologies and let me go." Lucas was half tempted to chew on a nail. "Dad remarried a few years later, so I got two new brothers to go with a new mom, who's dad was lost in a similar accident. I think the shared grief pulled us all together a lot faster."

"OH!" Mrs. Jordan ruffled in her seat. "Your dad was head over heels in love with your mother it must have been so hard on him. He dotted on her every whim. she so badly wanted a little girl of her own, no doubt they would have tried for another one if she had wanted. But four sons, he must have been a happy man about that"

"Yes I'm sure dad would have kept trying, but mom was told no more by the doctors so that was that. They thought about adoption but didn't make enough to get approved. Otherwise I would have had a little sister to keep an eye on" Lucas grins at his thoughts. "Thou half way through high school I'm kinda of glade it didn't work out. Getting my brothers out alive, in one piece and no one getting pregnant, arrested or stabbed in some dark alleyway was harder then it should have been. Go living in a big city. I can't image trying to keep a little sister in line on top of that." Lucas wiped at his brow thinking about it. He knew 8 girls had to quit school because the "pull out method" didn't work, go figure. He never understood how someone could think that would ever work.

"Having two older brothers myself I can assure you that a youngest sister has a very difficult time finding anyone willing to risk the irate of older male siblings for a date." Mrs. Jordan winks at him. "We find our ways around this of course, but I'm sure the four of you would have been an intimidating force to reckin' with. Assuming that your dad go his way and you all got some kind of kung foo training"

"Ninjutsu, it's interchangeable with its modern term Ninpo. Either way you look at it, it's the strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, like guerrilla warfare." Lucas corrects. "Bushido theory came first, some Tai Chi for balance. Yoga despite all the grumbling Ryan did. Lots of reading require too." Lucas looked up from his thoughts to see two blank stares looking back at him. "After the basics we went in four slightly different ways, each picking a specialized topic."

"You're a ninja? But your not wearing all black. Can you guys really turn invisible and walk on water?" Mrs. Jordan took a second look at them.

"Ninjas, and or Shinobi are mostly infiltration and intelligent gathers, espionage, guerrilla warfare and if need be assassination. Our job is to blend in, the only time we would wear all black is while training or during a night time mission. The all black and special abilities is a pop culture perception is based on myths, legend and folklore. Only one person that I know of claimed to walk on water, and I wasn't there to see it done so I take it with a grain of salt." He nods at the cross hanging above their small kitchen window. "Nothing against the stereo type but I can't turn invisible. I just do a very good job of looking like nothing special while walking somewhere I don't want to be bothered. And during school that came in handy when I was running late for a class" Lucas chuckles at this. "Really thought Ninjas are basically spies"

"Interesting" Mr. Jordan nods at this, deep in though his mouth sours at something. "So your good at sneaking around without looking like it?" Lucas and Nelle nod in agreement. "That doesn't sound very honorable to me, I thought your family was all about that stuff"

"We are. We are also a cross between Ninja and Samurai, not something that you would have found back in the Sengoko period. Feudal Japan was under heavy unrest during this time, Waring daimyos hired Shinobi's aka Ninjas to do the dirty work the Samurai's wouldn't, due to their strict code of conduct. We don't fight unless we have no choice, but we have learned to fight encase we need to defend ourselves or others who can not. It's … a little messed up but it works for us"

"Hes so close to turning that into a sales pitch" Nelle bumped his arm laughing.

"Dad wishes for me to take over the dojo, one day I may need it be one, from my perspective." Lucas shrugs at them. "But we're not here for a history lesson"

"The old porch swing gave out finally?" Mr. Jordan chuckles at this. "Only took 40 years. I helped my dad build that swing out at your moms place, she was around your age at the time. Though with proper maintaining it should have lasted another 20…"

Lucas fidgets in his spot. "After mom died dad basically abandoned it but couldn't let it go. So it sat waiting for us for the last 10 years. We're having to do a lot of repairs and maintenance. Thankfully no broken windows but everything else needs something. Hand carved takes awhile so by the time we get around to the porch I figured that a swing could be finished. It won't look right without one."

"Your grandfather built that porch so his wife could have that swing, I'm sure they would be pleased to see it finished up with a few extra touches. Here" he slides a battered binder across the table to them. "Take a look and see if anything checks your eye, we can talk price after"

Nelle wasn't sure what to expect but from the details she was sure this was all outside of their price range.

"The type of wood, the anker and chains, polish or lacour will have an effect on the price, but expect to spent a few thousand... probably" Lucas nodded at the page. It looked like your stranded bench, wood slates, curved to the body. She pointed to the one that looked like two giant slabs of wood. As if someone cut a tree in half and polished two side but left the rough bark in tacked on the bottom and back half. Lucas pointed at the price at the bottom and her head spun. Too expensive. Next they ran across a quaint country set. A large love seat, two smaller chairs and three end tables. But they wanted it to swing. She spotted a back yard table set, an adjustable table set to seat 12. She patted his arm to bring his attention back to the book and away from the cookies. She made it her mission to get that recipe so she could keep making them for him. He spotted the table and nodded in agreement. Inside the house they would never be able to seat everyone around the table… even if you used all the spare chairs, the couch and the love seat. The house was built for four, not 12. "That would he a good idea" he looked up for Mr. Jordan but his wife made her way over.

"Questions dear?" she pulled up a chair.

"A house of four doesn't accommodate for 12 very well, and dad hates not sitting down at supper together, how long would something like this take?" he asks pointing at the page.

She flipped the page over, the numbers and letters written in code clearly made scene to her. "About a month, depending on if you want all chairs or a few benches, an extra leaf insert are options too" she pulled a sheet out and suddenly 16 could fit.

"I like that idea" Nelle smiles at the price too for a basic table. "A nice polish and we wouldn't have to worry about needing a second one when kids come along." Lucas jerks at the thought making both woman laugh at him. "No way is your dad going to let all four of you opt out of that, I fully expect marriage questions fallowed by kids questions a lot sooner then you may like"

"Aaaaa…." Lucas pushes himself back trying to think of an exit strategy. "Right one thing at a time, what color of polish where you thinking?"

"Pine or Cherry. Depends, are we redoing the front?" … wait a minute didn't he say not to do anything with the outside?

"I like it as it, but personally I would like to redo it with a richer red color and light brown stone. But keep the windows white. It'll provide a nice splash of color with a good pop of contrast to the red." Lucas looks back at the porch set and can see them lounging around it. Mathew and Sky are taking up the swing, Darin and Anissa claimed the seats to read together. Ryan and Yvonne are chillin on the front steps eating apples from the tree. Nelle's in the kitchen … oh man. He pulls a hand down the front of his face. He's in deep and if his brothers ever find out about this. He'll never hear the end of it. "The outside will have to wait but we need more sitting area, like now"

"Good thing that doesn't take long then. A cherry stain with red siding would be too much, I would suggest a pine with a clear gloss finish." Mr. Jordan comes back in with some samples. "It'll be the cheapest option but still last a long time."

"Yaa know… is there a piece of paper I can use?" Nelle had flipped the page and spotted another porch set.

"Here dear" Mrs. Jordan hands her a piece

"If we made the porch bigger, we could have like a second out door seating area" she does a light sketch from a birds eye view. "Like a bay window. We could add an out door rug, match it up to some pillows. Then bring it all inside with the curtains and more pillows inside." Lucas nods his approval, it could be a multi generational summer home. His mom would have loved the idea. "That front porch needs to be redone anyway after Crispin fell through it"

"Oh my!"

Lucas shrugs it off. "Crispin's fine, his skull is too thick for a few foot drop to do him any harm. Some cuts but nothings worth worrying about"

"I like that one." Nelle points at her current page, she flipped through the other pages but nothings screamed out, buy me. "It'll go great with the table, extra leaf and at least one bench would look nice out by the back door. We need a new BBQ big enough for all of us." Nelle spotted the enormous cat got the cream grin on Mrs. Jordan's face but wasn't sure what it was for. Probably thinking about all the money they could be making shortly. No way they could afford all this right now, her mom didn't sent that much.

"That comes in pine only, other woods don't like being bent that way and I find that curving of the wood doesn't look as nice or hold its shape very well." Mr. Jordan looked amused with something too.

Lucas realize what it looked like. They were planning. On far in the future things. Crap, he could see it too. He gulped, dare he think about rings and kids? Or was it because Nelle had brought it up? He felt a wave of panic bull charging him. Too soon! These thoughts were coming at him too fast. They should go explore and experience a bunch of stuff together first. Sure one day he'd like to marry her, settling down… talk about kids. Maybe even have a few. But that was many years down the road. They should finish high school, get real careers and be at them for a few more years to make sure they didn't run into the same money problems his parents did.

"Are you ok Lucas?" Nelles eyebrows were pulled together, her hand feeling for a temperature.

"Yaa I'm fine. Wishing dad was here, we can't get both sets without his cards. Plus he'll need to approve them anyway. How long would this take?"

"Pine isn't expensive son. I have several of these pieces laying around pre cut, so a few weeks" Mr. Jordan jots down a few things. "That's for the patio furniture " he points to the first number. "That's for the porch swing" he points to the second one "That'll be for the table, one bench can seat up to four, plus 6 chairs and an extra leaf"

"That's it?" Nelle blinked down at the numbers totally unfazed by them. Lucas's eyes bulged out. "Mom spent more then that on our grand dinning table"

"Your mom also has no concept of money value" Lucas cried a little on the inside. This was a sudden slap to the face reminder that Nelle was use to expensive things. "She also had to import that dinning table and 20 chairs from across the seas, got sold oak with all the extra bells and whistles to boot." his face frowned at this. Closing in on $7,000 dollars shouldn't seem cheap to anyone.

"Pine is cheap. Your not paying for middle men, extra shipping cost or anything too fancy. There basic but good sturdy and long lasting. Plus I'm not doing this for extra income, I retired years ago. You're doing me a favor by helping me use up the extra pieces I have laying around." He smiles at them. "I can hardly charge you two a leg and an arm for this job. Mrs. Makes the money now selling her baked goods at local craft sales around the area"

"Oh!" Nelle flips a page over. "Don't under sale your products Mr. Jordan! I'm not bothered by the prices at all." She points at the sticker price at the back. There swing should be costing them $2000 alone, he has it set for nearly half that. Lucas dies a bit more on the inside. Nelle likes expensive stuff, she also has a heart of gold that's going to up the prices on them.

"Not at all dear. That price included my son's share, he doesn't help anymore so I don't need to include his wage. It'll take longer without him but that means lower prices as well. I assure you that's about a 50/50 cost break up between supplies and labor time." He smiles and they both know that's not entirely the truth.

Nelle loves these people already. So direct, open and willing to help others out but she see's the way Lucas's eyes are tightened up. The slightly frown forming on his face and the ever growing unease with the financial issues there having. They should be buying more supplies like food and science-based stuffed for Darin, Anissa and Amelia. Not unnecessary furniture for an outside part of a house he said they shouldn't be doing anything with. She shots off a text message to her dad's cell asking for more money. Briefly explaining the issue of a lack of dinning and seating space. His dad had gotten them all new beds and other thing, she wasn't sure if his credit would hold out for this as well. She didn't mind, unlike Kandace she didn't see a need to be paid back. She loved him and his family plus all the extras in their lives. This was money well spent on things everyone should have. Her phone went off asking for a total, she replied with what he was asking for and what she thought it might acutely be. Her dad sighed at this. But approved it, they should sit down as a family and have enough seating space for everyone. Strong family values were something they could all agree on. "Dad agrees with me" her phone started ringing so she answers it. "Hi daddy… yes were doing great out here… hmmm… ok" she hands the phone over. "He wishes to speak to you."

Mr. Jordan takes the cell phone a little unsure of this. "Hello sir" he walks through the small arch way into the living room to have the discussion.

"I think dads going to pay for it"

Lucas goes stiff spinned at this. "But.."

"He loathes the idea of family not sitting together for food. Plus your dad has paid for new furniture for me to be staying at your mother's house. I think he see's it as fair pay back. Plus you know my family can afford this, it's not the price, it's the family values behind it that matters. It's why they approve of you. You put family first and take care of them as best as you can. Let my family help us now"

"Ohhhh" Mrs. Jordan gushes at them. "Love is in the air. You two are just perfect for each other I can tell you know" Nelle blushes as Lucas gets uncomfortable again. "Both insisting to help, both insisting that the other one need not worry. True love is about giving it your all and doing everything you can for each other. It's not about the price tag son, it's about wanting to help. Don't go and get stuck in some old hog posh ways about the man having to pay for everything. If they lady wants to and can let her spend some money on you. It's all about showing you how much she cares too you know"

Lucas fidgets in his spot. "Yes ma'ma" Mrs. Jordan smiles ear to ear, eye crinkle up and she giggles at them.

"Respect" Mr. Jordan nods at Lucas. "Is seldom seen in the younger generation, speaking frankly if I may" Lucas nods him on. "Put a ring on that one asap. You don't find good woman like that every day." Lucas goes stiff backed again, Nelle can feel the heat crawling across her face. "And you best be saying yes, good men are in short supply. We have seen many come through looking to impress or buy Someone's love, you both give freely so don't ever questions it. Don't ever poke at it and never take it for granted"

"Yes sir" Nelle clutches the car keys.

"Yes your father is paying for it. Firmly insisted on it, I have a credit card on file so if prices need to be adjusted then I've been given the go ahead. Your both lucky, I hope you know that" Mr. Jordan walks out the back door calling out his goodbye. "Family supper should be enjoyed together. I'll get right on this order for you and have it delivered as soon as possible. Have a lovely evening"

Once he's out the door Nelle nods at Mrs. Jordan. "Don't let my dad's bossy behavior push him into finishing it faster. Whenever it's done is good with me." Mrs. Jordan can barley contain her joyous giggles at this. "Eating on the floor has some appeal to it when you get to cuddle up. Thank you so much for all your help." Nelle smacks at Lucas's creeping hand back towards the half finished plate of cookies. "Save some room for supper!"

Mrs. Jordan bursts out laughing at them. "You stay out of trouble and don't worry about a thing. He'll bring everything by once it's done" She waves as they walk out the door.

Kandaces phone call revealed nothing new, so far they were still in the clear.


	6. Chapter 6

I took a bit of a break afte NaNoWritMo not realizing I didn't post the last 2/3 of the story. So imma fix these chapters up and post them over the next little bit. Sorry.

Chapter 6

"So" Lucas looks at a pile of drawings not understanding any of it.

"You have no idea what I am talking about do you?" Darin smirks at this

"Not a hot clue" Lucas nods at it. "This is more technical then I thought you would go"

"More to scale really." Darin shuffles a few pages around "If we do this right we don't have to make many changes to what we have already done, simply make them better. The infected are not very smart, so trapping them won't be hard. They don't under basic langue concepts anymore. Things like opening doors and pushing buttons don't compute either..."

"Tell that to the people back at the hotel" Mathew shivers thinking about it.

"True, I stand corrected. Some basic motor functions seems to be grasped. For how long is up for debate. Newly infected are smarter but this rapidly declines. The swelling in the brain puts pressure on vital spots, left untreated this can cause death. It has been noted that is the only thing that stops them from attacking none infected. Otherwise it's open season on our ass's"

"So dig bigger holes and stabilize the blockades?" Ryan looked at the drawings, they seemed pretty straight forwards to him, what was Lucas confused about?

"I also want to add a second and third barrier, kinda like a mini maze they need to get threw before they get to the holes. This should keep most if not all of the infected away from here, add a gate at the drive way and were set to go." Darin wipes his hands, sure of his plan

"We don't have enough wood for that" Crispin looks at the designs. "Nor will we find it in the small town near by. We need to make a few trips to other larger city's for that amount, unless we down scale it and put the maze with more holes inside the obstetrical course"

"Lots more holes" Ryan scrunched his face up at digging more holes. It was labor intensive and that much stress often resulted in people getting sick.

"We should go rent a machine for that" His mom walked in, took one look at the designs and grabbed for her wallet. "I need to make a trip into a larger city anyway"

"I will accompany you" their dad smiled at her. "The nearest larger city is about 4 hours from here, we will be gone the night since traveling than is not a good idea. So I expect everyone to be on their best behavior." He narrows his eyes at Ryan and gives Mathew a knowing glare before nodding at Lucas. "You are in charge, make sure everyone sleeps in their own beds tonight"

"Of course father" Lucas feels the others glaring a hole in his back at his parents set off, he waves them on. Turning back to the others he winks at them. "He said to make sure everyone sleeps in their own beds, he said nothing about before bed time. And since we can't do much till we get that digger and extra wood I think the best thing for us is a nice relaxing movie night. I mean it is important that we de-stress right Anissa?"

She didn't blink at this, straight faced she agreed. "We have all been stressed out, I think a decompressing night is in order, to avoid getting sick of course"

"Then one large healthy meal is a must before we get to the popcorn." Mathew grabs Sky's hand making her giggle they take off to the kitchen.

"That'll take an hour to make such a large meal" Yvonna starts walking back to the rooms. "I think I need a nap"

Ryan fakes his stretch before fallowing her. "I better make sure she's tucked in"

"Really guys?" Darin shakes his head at them

Nelle grins and Anissa attempts to flee. "I think Anissa said something about needing some extra study time Darin, you should go help her with that." She points to the retreating figure. "You'r room is the farthest from everyone else's, I bet it would be quite in there for the two of you to concentrate"

Darin rolls his eyes at her. "Right, sure and what will you two be doing in the mean time?"

"Why we will be going over these plans of course. You know Lucas frets over tiny details." Nelle sits across the table from Lucas as Darin walks away shaking his head, knowing full well the others are not doing what they said they would be.

He might as well get as far away from them as possible to avoid over hearing anything. He may also never eat anything from that kitchen again. "Anissa?" He walks in to find her back to him she mumbles at him, yes Darin? Debating between two totally different text books. "We don't have to study if you don't want too, we can just chill and talk if you want?" She mumbles at him again, you mean chill and Netflix style or...? he back peddles seeing the flush on her face. "Unlike my fellow brothers I am fine waiting till we are not surrounded by a bunch of other people to..." His mind goes blank, he's not sure where to go from there.

"No one would believe me if I said anything happened anyway" Anissa drops her advance calculus book and picks up the physicists text. "We haven't confabulated this in a while" She turns without looking running right into him. Surprised she drops her book that he grabs out of the air, before tossing it back at the bed.

"We have a different conversation to have first." Sounds from Yvonnas temporary room has them both going red in the cheeks. "Let's leave post hast to my room, where hopefully we don't over hear anything"

"Sounds good to me"

They almost race to his room noting the small dinning table had been abandoned but Nelle's giggles could be heard from the couch. They refuse to look towards the kitchen with it's wide open arch way. Up the stairs to the far side of the house he shuts the door, leans back and sighs. "Too close" He opens his eyes to watch her taking in every detail of his room. "My biological mom picked the color and room scheme out for me when I was really little" He internal groaned at the tiny teddy bears decorating his walls. He had managed to shove most of the old toddler stuff off to one side but hadn't done anything else with it. Now he was wishing he had. She pulled a few things out and laughed at his face of objective horror. "I was only 3..."

"It's fine" She waves it away looking threw the dusty objects.

"I don't remember her very well, she died shortly after finishing this room for me. We had plans to come out that summer according to dad but never made it"

"Understandably"

"Are you mad at me?" He kept the weight on his hands to keep himself from bolting. Emotions where complicated and messy. He liked order and logic for a reason.

"No, but if you get any more stiff spin-ed I'm going to get worried about you. Could you radiate discomfort any more?"

"Probably" Deep breath in, hold for a count of three and slowly release it. See not so scary. "Well it's later and I promised this talk so..." ... Of all the times for his mind to take a break on him...

"What are we?" She stayed sitting on his floor looking up at him but he felt like running again. "We are clearly more then friends but after that I am not sure"

"Aaaa..." Blank screen of death.

"Thou I don't think girlfriend really covers it either"

"Aaaa..." That escalated fast.

"Best friend isn't it either, that's Amilia, good thing I'm not the jealous type"

His brain was not rebooting fast enough for this.

"Then again Chole could be a contender too, but you crossed her off so I'm over that, does that make me the jealous type or rightfully concerned?" She waited for him to answer then got to watch the system crash again. "Ok fine, clearly I jumped a few steps in your master plan, so where would you like to start?" She had to wait for his brain to find it's flash cards. Probably rearrange pie and flow charts with back up stats and lord only knows what else he had prepared for this.

He drew a blank. He did not prepare for this. He cursed himself out for being so unprepared for something this important to her. Ok be logical about it. They needed to define a few things, clearly redraw some borders. He should have brought a book to make a time line for this.

"You'r over thinking it again" She sighed slumping over.

"When I am not over thinking things? Truth is I am not sure where to start, I didn't plan ahead and I am not coping well. I feel this

would be best discussed after we fine a cure but since we don't have a time line for that I thought we could work on this."

"Getting a few hours off the hot topic would let your brain rest, giving you a fresh preservative on it later." She sighed before standing up. "Why don't I just go for a walk instead, you don't far well without a plan of attack first"

"No, this is important to you."

"Is it important to you?" She hesitated, wondering if she could stand any form of rejection from him right now. She should have played it safe and left with her parents.

He blink slowly, watching her eyes dart up only to dart away again. Alarm bells were ringing in his head. "Why wouldn't it be important to me?"

"I don't know, you seem so detached from everything" She backed up a half step and something too close to fear spiked through him. "and everyone"

"And yet so many people want to be my friend" He raised an eye brow at her, she normally didn't mind close proximity. So what did he do wrong and how was he going to fix it. "Well not really, they want me to do their homework for them" She smiled at him but not in a happy way.

"Serves you right for boasting about your perfect A's in all classes"

"Not art class" He watched her rub at her arm and felt a few things click into place.

"Because after schematic all you can draw is stick figures"

"Yaaa..." He paused to give her a hug pulling her in tight. "And there not very good. But to answer your question, yes this is important to me, I would have brought it up sooner but I didn't know anything was bugging you in the first place. I was content at that pace but if you want to go faster we can make it official, if you want"

"Really?" she hugged him back. "I get a title?"

"It has been unspoken for most of a year now, but yes if it means that much we can give you a title. You could have fled with your parents, been on a boat right now. Instead you choose to stay behind with us, in the thick of the battle. We will have a price on our heads when they realize we are not in the city anymore, that we left and never said anything like we were told too." Darin sighed, letting his shoulders relaxed. All thous times everyone kept telling him to ask her out, before she slipped through his fingers came back with a vengeance. He almost lost her and didn't even see it coming.

"Mom said to stay behind, to stay safe with you. In a way this should make them safer, or at least that's what she was hoping for. Dad just felt like going for a vacation and I don't do that well on boats so they left me with money and some food. They could always transfer me more when I needed it" She goes stiff spine'd with an idea. "I should ask them to transfer me more money, I could get us more equipment"

"No, that would give away our location. Your not at home to accept more money and the city has fallen for sure, it would be weird asking for more now." Darin held on, he still needed to make this up to her.

"True, I hate to say it, but Lucas had a good idea keeping tabs on Kandace. Her fully stocked lab is looking good right about now."

"I am not looking forwards to using it if things go south." Darin gently pushed her around, massages always helped smooth things over...right?

"Yaa, a security gated compound sounds great, but it could also be a death trap if anyone turns and is let loss to rampage around"

"I don't even know where it is" He started working on her left shoulder, it's where she held most of her tension

"That is a problem, does Lucas know where it is?"

He startled for a moment having to think about it. "Aaa... I hope so. I can ask my bro later. Is there anything else that has been bothering you?"

"Are you sure you want to open that can or warms?"

"So long as it is important to you then yes" ... Maybe?

"Some of it yes, some of it no. What is my official title?"

That was easy to answer "Girlfriend"

"Ok, what does that all entitle me too?"

Not so easy, having never been in a relationship before he was unsure "aaaa... What does it normally entitle?"

He was back to the blank screen of death. She pressed on, either he would keep up or he wouldn't. "More physical closeness, dates with dinners and movies for starters"

"Gifts for anniversaries?"

"If you want to, you know I'm not into collecting a bunch of stuff"

"Dates and stuff... How about star gazing?" Darin looked at his calendar. "tonight would be a great night for it, if it doesn't start raining on us, our first official date then?"

"Sounds good to me"

Darin had to stop and think about things now "Anything else?"

"I can let a lot of guild lines go, organic has always worked best for us anyway." She watched his mind freeze again, he was so easy to read how did everyone else miss this

"There are general guild lines to this stuff?"

She giggled at him, for one so smart he missed a lot of things. "Yaa, generally speaking if it's going to fall apart that happens between the third and sixth month but can happen a few years down the road too. If we make it to the one year marker people will be wondering about taking the next step, like moving in. Anything after the first year marker is also when people will be wondering about marriage but since were still in school they will let it pass. The only request I have is a ring on my finger by the end of collage, if your still not sure in another 6 years I'm not going to be a happy camper"

"Dad always said happy wife, happy life. I'll keep that deadline in mind then" Sweet, something he could work with, timelines.

"Ok, you know my end game is collage, marriage, house then kids. What's your game plan?" Panic crossed his face before he could school it right.

"The kids worry me, can we come back to that topic later?"

"It's a must have conversation before marriage, otherwise deal." His shoulders slumped with his sigh, he wasn't so sure about kids, then again most boys aren't too sure about them. She let it pass, it was something they wouldn't have to worry about for a while.

"Excellent. Kids scare me. The thought of having to raise one terrifies me"

"One? Oh no, I was thinking three" He lost a lot of color with the number she was thinking of.

"Three!"

Being an only child was boring, she had watched him having fun with his siblings. Playing games, giving each other hard times about silly thing and didn't want her own kids to miss out on that. "We can discuses it later. What is your end game?"

"Same as yours, with the kid talk much later. Where do you see this going?"

"My end game plan, I have never been interested in anyone else, just you." She felt the blush creep up and spread across her face, he even had the nerve to chuckle at her. "I can get my education anywhere really, so I can fallow you to which ever university you were thinking of"

"I am ok with that, the feeling is mutual. I can also get any number of degrees from a verity of places, so if something grabs your attention I can fallow you around too"

"I think that's why we work so well together. Academically speaking your better but we really feed off each other, it's smooth and flows for us"

Darin couldn't agree more. "The same way we do in the dojo, our combo attacks in spar class deal some major damage, we can read each other so well that it's almost like magic."

"Magic is just a science we don't understand yet, in a way we clicked all those years ago and have never left that place"

"Indeed. Do you feel better now or should I start on the other side?" The tension seemed to be gone at the moment on this one side but the right looked a little tight still.

"I feel better but I won't say no to more attention" He was sooo good at giving massage, no way she was turning one down.

He moved them towards the bed. "Ok, hop on." This being a single bed shoved in a corner he ends up straddling her. Short of making her move around a bunch he figured this was better, he hadn't treated her to a full back massage in a while, this was sure to help her de-stress. He rubbed his hands along his leg to help them warm up. She watched him do this before shuffling her shirt up more, giving a massage throw material was hard. "Your really stiff in your lower back, are you sure there isn't something else on your mind that you want to talk about?"

"Nothing that can't wait, the infection threat has been making it hard to sleep at night"

Darin felt the frown scrunch up his forehead head "Why didn't you say anything sooner? You know I don't mind giving you massages to help"

"Because you where really busy and I didn't want to interrupt your thought process"

Maybe, but... "You should have said something sooner, you get sick faster when your stressed. I really don't mind helping, no matter what else I am doing, promise me you'll ask for help if you need it"

Ryan bellows from down stairs that supper was ready.

"Damn, that was just getting good"

"I can finish this up after supper, for now lets go eat." Darin is worried about supper but is supersized by a large meal, Mathew was cooking the whole time? "We shouldn't be eating so much food, this may have to last us a long time"

Matt waved this idea away. "Naaa. You'll get this whole thing sorted out in no time at all bro"

Nelle poked at the poutie Yvonna beside her "So how was your nap?"

"Not as good as I was hoping for, someone was behaving for some reason"

Ryan blinked at her but turned his head, they were short a few people here. " Hey, has anyone seen Cripsin or Amilia recently?"

Lucas pulled his chair out hoping to make more room "They where out in the barn last I heard"

"So who's going to go check on them?" Darin shoved a chicken wing into his mouth looking at everyone.

Everyone else looked at him yelling out. "Not it"

He felt his eye twitch at this, he should have know better "Damnit" He got up from the table not at all happy about this. Part way there he started stomping his feet, letting them crunch on the gravel a bunch trying to let them know he was approaching. He called out to them twice before getting even close to the double doors. Crispin shot out of the doors shh'ing him. Turns out Amilia had fallen asleep waiting for the computer to finish running a sample for her. "It's supper time, we need to wake her up"

Amilia flapped her arm in his general direction after he shook her shoulder "I'm not hungry"

Crispin shook her other shoulder "Too bad your eating anyway"

Amilia sniffled at them "But I don't feel good" Darin's hand appeared on her forehead

"Ok inside with you, your getting sick." He raced ahead of them, half crashing into the living room. "Anissa, Amilia's getting sick. She's running a fever already and complaining of an upset stomach"

"She needs soup for supper then, lots of sleep and plenty of water, I'll grab some meds"

Darin diverts them to the right room then helps Crispin settle Amilia in for the night. Anissa shows up shortly after that, takes her temp, stuffs a few pills in her then records it all down. Mathew shows up with some soup and Amilia chokes half of it down. She's left to sleep the rest of night. Back in the living room Lucas stares a hole in Crispin.

"How sick is she?"

He tries to wave it off "She's not bad..."

Anissa scowl's at him "Her temp is up. She's sick already and a threat now"

He doesn't understand their annoyance "How is she a threat?"

Anissa face palms, Crispin was such an idiot. "She has germs, they can be passed around making the rest of us sick"

Lucas whapped Crispin upside the head "She could turn on us now dumbie"

Darin fumed at them "I will have to double my efforts now, clearly the stress is getting to her"

Yvonna sighed at them in general. "It's getting to all of us, were not equipped to handle this kind of stuff, that's what the cdc is for"

Lucas rubes at his temples, he was going to get blamed for this somehow. "I should have keep a better eye on everyone..."

Mathew passed a hard look at his bro "Dude, were not little kids anymore, we know how to take care of our self's" ... mostly

Lucas gave him a droll stare back "Father..."

Ryan cut them both off. "Never mind that, we need to keep an eye on her tonight to make sure she doesn't turn when were all a sleep. So who's on guard duty tonight?"

Crispin raised his hand "I am"

Yvonna sighed at this "Me too"

Darin got to thinking about something, just encase "We need an observation room of our own, it would be the safest way to ..."

Crispin reeled at this idea "You are not locking her up in a cage!" What kind of friend locks you up in a cage just because you got a little sick

Darin felt a violent urge wash over him, Crispin couldn't be that stupid, could he? "Would you rather risk all your friends lives or spend a few days in a cage? Amilia is still one of my best friends I don't want to lock her up in one either but I am not putting anyone else in dangers way. You should have said something sooner when you noticed she wasn't feeling well. It's a lot easier to nip something in the bud at the very beginning, not when the virus has started to settle already"

Lucas stepped between them, hurting each other wasn't going to help anyone "Wow Darin, it's ok. Breath, Amilia will be fine. We can look into other options tomorrow. Right now it's getting late, lets eat, watch a tv show then go to bed, fresh eyes and minds help right?"

Anissa rocked on her feet, should she bring this up? "Where am I going to sleep tonight?"

Everyone pauses realizing they shared a room. Darin nodded at his own thoughts "My room"

Lucas blinked at this, he couldn't mean... "Umm Darin..."

He rolled his eyes at them. "I can sleep on the couch, being in the same room as a sick person is just asking for trouble"

Anissa huffed at this making Darin's head snap around to look at her "I can take care of myself"

"No one can take care of themselves while passed out, not till they wake up with someone chewing on their arm. Losing Amilia will slow us down. I can't lose both of you, no one else can keep up or even understands what I am doing. No offense, just saying this is complicated scientific formulas we're working with"

She paused, he had a point. "True, I can't stop an attack if I'm sleeping, ok I will borrow your bedroom for the night. Hopefully she feels better in the morning all my stuff is in there"

Mathew elbowed Darin. "Dude, she's not fighting with you about being competent, ask her out already"

He rolled his eyes at him "I already did"

Ryan chimed in from the other side. "No, for like real be my girlfriend already before she slips thru your fingers"

Darin rolled his eyes at him too "No, like I already did. It's official so can everyone please get off my back about that?"

Lucas turned to look at Anissa before asking "Really?"

Darin's head snapped around to look at brother "Why are you asking her?"

Anisaa had to chuckle at him, he really did get into trouble about it all this time. "No he did, it's official now"

Lucas nods at this. "Cool, it's about damn time Darin."

"Hey!" Why did they always gang up on him?

Crispin did a little happy dance at this, it was about damn time. "Way to go man, your perfect for each other. So what are we going to do if Amilia's condition gets worse?"

Anissa raked her brain for ideas but couldn't think of anything. "I hate to say it... but we may need an observation room of our own, or at least something like it. We need a way to keep them and us safe. A place to sleep and eat.."

Lucas rubbed at his temples again, trying to fight the headache off. "We don't have the space, supplies or time to make them their own home"

Darin felt the light bulb go off over his head. "Out in the barn we could..."

Crispin reeled again, oh hells no! "Wow, out in the barn without any source of heat or air conditioning for them?"

Darin had to resist the urge to hit the dumb ass. "They can't tell the difference, but I would put the systems in myself if we had them. Look I need to anyway for us so we don't get a cold looking for the cure. It's not ideal but"

"Not ideal? That isn't very humane" He wasn't seriously thinking about it, was he?

"And say Amilia does become infected should we just let her roam the country side till a cure is found? What is she hurts or kills someone, for all we know she could remember that when we fix this. Then what will she think of herself, us? It's terrible, I know, but we have to do something, the barn is our best chance. It will keep anyone infected safe from the elements. Any cage like area we set up will keep us safe from them but still provide me with samples to work with. We should only need one, two at most"

Lucas sighed grabbing their attention. "Darin is right, we all know that. I would rather be in a cage then let loss on innocent people. I would never forgive myself if I hurt any of you. In the morning I will head out to town and give mom and dad a call, maybe they can pick up a few other things for us while their at it. For now lets eat and try to enjoy a movie" He had a plan, he was going to stick to it. Everyone be damned, he was going to enjoy this night and make sure they did too.

It weight on Darin's mind but he did his best to smile and laugh along with everyone else. Still Lucas's eyes held the strain he was feeling. Ryan was distant despite Mathew's best attempts. All too soon the movie was over. He walked Anissa to his room before opening up his closest, he was bond to have something in here that she could borrow for the night. He grabbed his pj pants and tank for the night. He was part way to the bathroom when he remembered he left his hairbrush in his room. He trudged back and walked in without thinking. Anissa's shrill shriek startled him out of his thoughts. "Oh I'm sorry Anissa I didn't..."

"Close the door at least! Darin the door! Yes I have boobs now close the door!" She clutched something to her but it wasn't hiding anything. He should be doing something but his brain wasn't working

A hand closed around his shirt before yanking him back as the door slammed back into place. "Take a pic buddy it'll last longer" Yvonna invaded his space and his mind got back to work, sort of.

"I forgot my brush..."

Lucas's popped out of his room still pulling his shirt over his head "What is going on out here?"

Yvonna shoved her finger into Darin's chest, making him back up. "Peeping tom over here..."

"NO! I forgot my brush and came back for it, I didn't know Anisaa would be... like that" He stood his ground, her finger would break before his chest plate did.

Nelle bound up the stairs at the wrong time "Like what?"

Anissa popped her head back out the door. "Half naked. I think I shocked him, he didn't blink for any of that exchange." Her face flushed. "He really didn't know I was getting changed already, you can back down Yvonna he wasn't being purvey on purpose."

Ryan chuckled at him from down the hallway "So someone got an eye full did he, smooth. Your suppose to ask first"

Darin felt a fire make it's way across his face "I didn't, I wasn't, fuck it. I am so sorry Anissa"

She blushed at this "It was a mistake it's ok" her hand pops out next with his hairbrush in it. "Here"

Yvonna grinned at this. "My you found that fast"

Anissa growled out at them "It was on his night stand, the same night stand he was walking to that I am standing beside! It wasn't hard to see so no I didn't do that on purpose either"

Mathew finally made it to the party "Do what on purpose?"

Darin shot around, pointing back down the stairs "Nothing, go back to bed!"

The youngest held his ground. "You are so not the boss of me"

Lucas started pointing back down the stairs "I'm telling you to go back to bed, because I am the boss of you right now. We will all leave so they can disuses this in private." Mistake or not, Darin needed to clear that up least he get into trouble and send her packing. He came to the conclusion that Yvonna had over reacted. Darin was too bright red to be anything but extremely embarrassed about it.

Mathew pouted on his way back downstairs "How come Darin and Anissa get to be alone in a bedroom but Sky and me..." Ryan wakes him upside the head as they leave.

"Because it's you vs. Darin, we know who we can trust more in this regard"

Mathew grinned at them, setting Darin on edge "Right, love life run on battier's." He scampered down before anyone could retaliate.

Anissa flushed at the reminder "I am never living that down, give me a minute."

He waits for an all clear this time. He walks in to see her all wrapped up in his blankets. "It can get cold in here, did you want a space heater?"

"I should be fine"

Darin nodded at this, before plowing ahead "Aaa, yaa I am sorry about that, and I'm sorry about... I'm not even sure what all I did wrong but I'm sorry for it." Honesty never got him into trouble before.

She was unsure where to start. "Starring. Not closing the door. Blank screen of death like you didn't understand. Oh, and starring"

He had to stop and think about this "... Like I didn't understand?"

Anissa cuddled deeper into the blankets acting like a shield. "Well yaa, you stood there slowly blinking at me, like you didn't understand."

Darin gave it a hard thought first again, proceeding with caution. "Well I wasn't sure what the correct action to take was. Run before my bothers got here, flee in terror before the other girls got here or simply close the door and look away." He was looking at a -which is the lesser evil- moment.

She thought about it for a moment, he did walk into a bad situation there. "Fleeing wasn't a bad option but closing the door would have worked best at the moment, since anyone could have walked by. Were lucky it was Yvonna"

He snorted at her "You where lucky it wasn't one of my brothers, lucky is not what I would call myself after nearly being choked to death." He rubs at his sore neck. "Yvonna has been throwing her punches"

She snorted right back at him. "Some how not surprised by that. I'm not upset about it, so don't worry ok"

He thought about it, she didn't look upset, a little miffed maybe. "... Fine, is your shoulder bothering you again? You keep rotating it"

She rolled her right shoulder again "A little but it's ok. It's late and you still need to get ready for bed"

He waved this away "I'll be fine, here let me make it up to you" He seemed to be doing that a lot lately as he crawled onto the bed. "Besides I promised a real date, we had dinner and a movie but that's too easy. It's dark enough to go star gazing"

She shuffled under him. "My shoulder can wait" He pushed her back down.

"Shoulder first, star gazing won't be much fun if your pulling muscles trying to look up. I don't have my telescope here so it's eyes only this time"

"Fine" She melts into the bed letting the tension go finally. A proper nights sleep was essential to staying healthy. A thought crossed her mind, how uncomfortable will he be if she brought this up... After starring at her she figured it was fair pay back. "We never did get around to the topic of what being a boyfriend entitled you too..." She let the sentence hang and felt his hands pause. A peek over her shoulder revealed the blank screen of death again. He managed to reboot faster this time but kept whatever thought crossed his face to himself. Probably a wise idea. He spotted her looking at him before smiling down at her.

"I'm not really entitled to anything, I still have to ask permission first." Another thought crossed his mind but he didn't share that either. He focused back on the massage and she waited for him to say something. He sometimes took a few minutes to short thought his thoughts and voice them. She felt like a gooey puddle when he finally finished. She felt relaxed enough to pass out right than but he pulled the blinds aside. "It's too cold to go out side right now but we got a good view from right here." He pulled a book out before flicking the lights off. "Astronomy is not my strong suit, so..." She looked at the title and it was beginners guild. A subject he wasn't proficient at... this had possibilities.

"So your telling me now is the time to challenge your fact's collection?"

He chuckled at this. "Probably, not much use to it in the city, can't see the stars most nights"

"OK" She felt the wicket smile slid into place, she was fascinated by the stars as a child. Maybe she could win this time. "First one to be stumped?"

"Ok, what we playing for?" He grinned thinking he already knew what she was after.

"Winners choose?" She was baiting him, ok, he'll play. She had yet to best him so odds where in his favor.

"Deal. You can start"

Bugger thought he knew more, fine. "Ok, I'll start on the easy stuff. The Earth orbits the Sun once per year. As it does, the constant tilt of 23.5 degrees of the Earth's rotation axis causes the seasons in the Northern and Southern high latitudes."

"You mean too easy, this is kids stuff. The Sun and stars are the same kind of object: huge spheres of hot Hydrogen gas, radiating heat and light. The reason the Sun appears so bright is that it is much, much closer to the Earth than the other stars."

Oh it was on then buddy. "The Moon and planets in our Solar System are cool spheres like the Earth, physically much smaller than stars. They shine because of reflected sunlight." She had facts for days and he had limited amounts, other wise he would have skipped over the -"kids stuff"- as he put it. She poked him when he paused to think for too long.

He felt a warning bell go off with that smile, maybe he bite off more then he could chew. "The solar system includes the sun, 8 planets, plus many moons, asteroids and comets. The solar system is an extremely small portion of the milky way galaxy"

... He wasn't going easy on her was he? Bugger better not be! She had a bunch of facts left and wanted to win for real. "The Sun and Solar System, including the Earth, all formed from a collapsing cloud of gas 4.6 billion years ago. The cloud collapsed due to its own self-gravity."

He paused again and she once more poked him, so he poked her back, that wasn't helping him to think. "The universe and all the galaxies in it began in an explosion about 14 billion years ago." throwing numbers at her sometimes worked...

Oh not this time Darin! Chew on this. "We can only detect about 5% of the matter in the universe. The rest is made up of an invisible and mysterious form of energy known as Dark energy." He was already slowing down to think about it. Dare she hope to beat him?

Just how many facts did she have on this anyway? "The Sun's core releases the the equivalent of 100 billion nuclear bombs every second." Maybe if he threw her off by random facts.

"Galileo Galilei is often credited with the invention of the telescope. Historians now think the Dutch eyeglass maker Johannes Lippershey was its creator. Galileo was probably the first to use the device to study the heavens to make his discoveries." Switching tactics already? She poked him in the side again, come on try again.

Maybe he should just let her win. Or would that make her mad if she found out? It probably would, he should just let this play out. He was running out of facts fast enough anyway. Plus her delicate fingers poking and prodding at him trying to find that one ticklish spot was distracting right now. "Light from distant stars and galaxies takes so long to reach us that we are actually seeing these objects as they appeared in the past. As we look up at the sky, we are really looking back in time. For example, the Sun's light takes almost 8.5 minutes to travel to Earth, so we see the Sun as it looked 8.5 minutes ago."

Oh she had this in the bag if he was resorting to that line. She had already heard this one from him, she would call him out for this but she was having too much fun. "Shooting stars really aren't stars. They are usually just tiny dust particles falling through our atmosphere. They vaporize due to the heat of friction with the atmospheric gases."

He was stumped, racking his brain but not coming up with anything else. Her attempts to distract him getting to him. He needed to think and her consent pokes was making it hard. He resorted to taking her hand, slipping his fingers threw her's to make it stop. "Space isn't completely empty. It turns out that there are a few atoms of matter in each cubic meter of space. The space between galaxies, which was also once thought to be quite empty can often be filled with molecules of gas and dust." There's that smile again... Oh no she had more facts, he needed to think of something fast.

She felt that grin creep across her face again. "The universe is filled with galaxies and the most distant ones are moving away from us at more than 90 percent of the speed of light."

She waited

He rummaged for something, come on come on there's gotta be something... anything? ... Not even a black hole cop out comment...

Her arms stated raising into the air, she was 10 seconds away from a win...

... Blast it! He nodded as she giggled in delight and her arms shot up into the air and a huge smile on her face.

"I win for once!" a mental tally marked one down her herself... only like 20 million more wins needed to break even.

"Ok you win. Now what?" There was the obvious one right now, or a few others if she felt inventive right now.

"... I'm not sure, you have three wins you haven't cashed in either so give me a few to think about it" Asking out right for it seemed a bit pushy, she'd let this unfold as it always had, slow and steady.

"Seems fair" He turned back to the window and frowned some what disappointed, the night was still young... ish. "The light from the living room is interfering. I'll be right back" He dashed downstairs and started flicking off lights, Lucas looked at him as he could no longer read without the light source.

"What'cha doing?" Lucas watched him dart around, jerky movements and face set into hard lines, was something wrong?

"Star gazing, the lights are too bright." He nodded at the kitchen lights. "Those won't make it hard to see the stars"

"Is it the lights or heavy clouds getting in the way?" Lucas looked outside, further into the dark sky line they had a storm brewing... but something told him that wasn't what was wrong in Darin's world right now... was their would be date not going according to plan? "It's going to try and rain on you soon is that a good idea?" They'd basically been dating for the last year, or at least exclusive towards each other. He knew for a fact that at least one guy had asked Anissa out about 6 months ago. He had to deal with a cranky Darin till he found out she had said no. Chole had been getting steadily creepier as the year progressed after he said no to her. They went for coffee "dates" all the time but this would be different... did he get weird on her and throw it all off balance

"I promised a real date, I'm working with what I got man." Darin's arms shot up into the air pulling Lucas from his thoughts

Lucas chuckled at him. "Take it easy bro, go enjoy your star gazing it won't last long with those clouds on the horizon" That was the best advice he could offer without digging for more info and making his brother really uncomfortable.

Darin nodded on his way back up the stairs. He knocked before entering this time. Anissa sat on the edge of the bed already enjoying the view. His eyes snapped up realizing she didn't have pj bottoms on, just an old baggy shirt. "It's going to get cold in here, did you not find anything else to wear?" He had half a cloest here, surly she could have found something to wear

"I don't like anything on my legs when I sleep at night, except blankets. Yes I'm a little cold but I'll be fine." .

.. oh, personal preference then. "Ok" He studied the ceiling for a moment before joining her. "So what consolation are we looking at tonight?" Keep eyes up, don't be creepy.

"I think that's Orion" She pointed up into the sky but his eyes hadn't completely adjusted to the darkness yet so he just nodded trusting her judgment.

"So just to the west should be Canis Major right?" Thank you Mathew and Sky for random facts they spit out all the time.

"Yep, Lepus is right under Orion. The brightest part of Lepus is composed of third- and fourth-magnitude stars. Astronomy is the oldest science we got, I'm surprised you don't know more about it"

Darin sighed before leaning into her, she shivered and he wondered about grabbing a throw blanket for her. "The first use for Constellations was probably religious. People thought that the Gods lived in the heavens and that they created them. We inherited the names for our constellations from the Greeks. And they named the constellations after their mythological heroes and legends. So behind every constellation there is a really cool story and that's fascinating but it's not really my thing"

"Ok, then why suggest a star gazing date?"

"As I just finished explaining to Lucas, I'm working with what I got here. So how am I doing?"

She thought about it. He was engaging in the conversion, adding his two cents and probably recalling random facts Mathew and Sky would have spit out on the topics. His body langue suggested he was interested in what they where doing and talking about it. Invading her personal space but not being creepy or grabby, thankfully. She turned the last one down after he tried to steal a kiss before she even agreed to a first date. She had heard other horror stories about guys, he seemed to be minding his manors without being awkward. "Your doing great" His shoulders sagged, he had been worried about it then. She internally swooned at this and jotted down a personal note to thank his father and step mom for raising him like that. There was just too many horror stories about guys treating woman like crap on dates and expecting way too much from them for doing nothing at all. Hell, now that she thought about it her own parents had told her to stay with him instead of joining them at sea. Her own parents trusted 17 year old Darin to keep her safe in the event of disaster striking. What's even more telling is they trusted them not to do anything foolish. She jolted realizing her parents trusted them to behave in an acceptable manor, his parents didn't even give them a side glance in warning. They looked at everyone else with the treat of punishment for being teenagers, but not them. They looked at Lucas but not Darin. Her face cracked, Darin looked worried and she burst out laughing. "It's ok" He had to wait for her to calm down before she could explain herself. "I just realized that both out parents trust us more then the rest" She watched a few thoughts fly across his face, realization dawning on him before he chuckled at it as well. He was more relaxed after this, curling into her a bit as mindless chit chatter helped her to relax as well. Seems he had been feeling some weight of a first date as well. She grew tired but refused to admit it, she could see the black rings under his eyes screaming of exhaustion but he never complained. This was not good for their health to be staying up so late but this last week had been hectic and stressful she let it go. They needed a sense of normalcy to keep the good fight going too.

He watched her fight sleep off, her eyes dropping shut only to snap open again. He should call it a night, if he stayed much longer he may fall asleep. That was not a can of warms he wanted to open come morning, and there would be hell to pay. They had trust, he wasn't about to break it. Still she insisted she wasn't that tired, maybe he should just talk to her till she fell asleep, then tip toe out of here. It would not be the first time he burned the might night oil way past the others. A side glance showed it to be closing in on two am before she finally let her head drop to the bed. Eyes stubbornly staying open. He made her shuffle up, at least use a pillow for the night silly. He pulled the blanket up to her chin and tucked her in tight before leaving, she was fast asleep before he closed the door for the night.

Back down stairs Lucas was passed out on the couch, book about to fall and lose his page. He sighed. Placed the book on the coffee table then retrieved Lucas's blanket from his bed before checking on the others. Yvonna had first shift and waved him away from Amilia's room, she was sound asleep. Mathew was half hanging out of his bed again so he adjusted the blanket before leaving. Sky and Nelle had passed out scrunched in close, book discarded on the floor. He could hear Ryan snoring so he let him be and crawled into his parents bed for the night.


	7. Chapter 7

Darin smirked at Anissa, blankets half tossed on the ground and bed head hair tangled up six ways to Sunday. No wonder it took her so long to get ready in the morning. "Alright, what do you want for winning?"

She haphazardly waved him away. "Oh no, I'm going to savor this. I need to think about it first, I'll get back to you in a day or two"

"Chicken. I have to give you an answer right away, normally"

"That's because you always win, that's my first victory in two years. I need to tell the others, I bet Yvonne could give me a few good ideas." Darin raised an eyebrow at Annisa but she was too busy trying to celibate her victory without getting out of bed to notice it.

Going to Yvonne for ideas seemed like a good way to end up with one's mind in the gutter. How was he going to change her towards a much friendly option of Sky... or, he should point her towards his dad, that may be the best way to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment, or knowing Yvonne, scandalizes ideas. He need to distract her, fast. "What do you want for breakfast?" He flops down beside her, poking her throw the blankets. "Time to wake up sleepy. Up and at it already"

She grumbled pulling the blanket up over her head. "Make me" She pulled the blanket down to watch a smirk cross his face. Her eyes cracked open too late realizing her mistake before he yanked the blanket away attacking her ticklish sides. She half jumped out of bed only to have him pull her back, trapping her legs. She thrashed about, giggled and screamed for him to stop.

"But you said..."

"Ok! Ok I'm awake" She sits up and pushes the blankets away needing to stretch now.

He shifted the blanket up her shoulders again. "Should have gone to bed sooner"

"Worth it" She let it fall down again, she wasn't cold beside him

"Agreed" He dragged the blanket edge back up over her shoulder.

"Lucas turned all the lights back on last night. For one trying to stay hidden you would think he would want all the lights off all the time"

"Yes, it would make more sense to leave the lights off. Then again by leaving them on whoever is on lookout can see trouble heading for us better too"

She let the blanket drop again, watching his eyes dart down. "No one's shown an interest in the farm. He was told to lock everything up and set booby traps."

"Mhmmm"

"Are you sure you'r not too tired from last night, you should grab a nap in before lunch?"

He pulled the blanket back up "No I'm fine, Mathew almost has brunch ready for us."

"Are you sure" She let the blanket drop again then smiled when she caught him looking down.

"Yes" He paused, lost in thought for a moment before pulling the blanket up again. "It's cold in here"

"I am so not cold right now." She let the blanket drop again, sure enough his eyes darted down and he made a nonsensical sound in response. "Your kicking out too much body heat right now. You are so busted buddy." She was delighted when his eyes snapped back up, red racing across his checks as she laughed at him.

He yanked the blanket back up and locked his gaze on her eyes. "Unintended or not, I still got an eye full a few hours ago. Try as I might act otherwise I am still a teenager. I may be busted, but I know what you want"

"Oh you think you do, do you?" She jutted her jaw line out, daring him too.

"The same thing you've wanted for most of the last year. I will admit it took me a while to figure it out, but my memory is fantastic."

Her eyes twinkled, double dog dare you buddy, go ahead say it out loud. "What? You, Mr. perfect, took almost a whole year to figure something out, say it isn't so. OK, then what is it that I want so badly?"

"The way you tilt your head up, licking your lips. Your eyes dart down then back up. It's the same thing I've wanted since I first meet you"

It was barley a whisper slipping past her lips. "Smooth"

He leaned in closer, her eyes closed. Lucas crashed thought the doors "Darin did you..." He blinked at them glaring daggers into his chest. "My bad" He dashed out, yanking the door shut behind him. The sound of a book crashing into a door a few seconds later had him leaving that side of the house post hast. "I'm a dead man if I don't get out of here right away, write faster Yvonne." Lucas kept one eye on the front door and one eye on the stairs leading up. Ryan raised an eye brow at him but he refused to tell anybody about what happened. Him and his stupid messed up timing. Darin was sure to come downstairs any minute now and rip him a new one for interrupting like that. That is he would, if his dad didn't walk in the door and discover that Anissa had not slept in her own bed last night. Much like Darin had not slept on the couch like he was suppose too. Not for one minute did he think either of the brain-ackes were misbehaving, but if his dad ever found out oh he would never be trusted again for starters. "Come on, come on" He bounced on the balls of his feet, ready to run away, from whoever showed their face first. "close enough" He ripped the paper out of her hands and shot out the door shouting out "K, love you, bye!" He jumped in his car, slapped the belt into place and brunt rubber.

"What's the rush?"

He damn near jumped out of his skin even as he screamed thinking it was Darin for a hot second. "Oh thank god it's you Nelle" He felt his heart leach back into motion seeing her there. His breathing returned to normal and she waited, then laughed as he explained what he walked into.

"Anissa is more likely to de-man you then Darin"

"Oh" His eye popped out of his head. "I didn't even think about that"

"We should grab something scientific for them while in town, to help distract them when we get back"

"What would I do without you"

"Get into less trouble"

"Perhaps, but you get me out of any trouble we cause and some that's my own fault"

"It's a talent"

He managed to relax before getting into town, his attempt to call his dad was a bust, maybe he didn't turn Darin's cell on. They could stick around and try again in a bit. Nelle needed to make another trip to the store, she forgot to get socks for everyone and a few other female essentials the others wanted. So back inside he nods at miss Angelo once more faithfully posted at her cashier spot. She was so cherry, waving and calling out a good morning dearies. He wondered down behind Nelle not paying attention till it was too late. She glared at him, hard, till he took a look around. His face flared a deeper shade of red then the bra to his left. He took the four large steps back out into friendly territory and waited with the other two lost souls. He rocked back and forth on his feet, the other two half whispering about a smaller town going down hill and another pit stop up the road was too quite. He was never one for ease dropping but he wanted to hear more, question was how to insert himself into the conversation. Inspiration hit, hopefully Nelle was out of hearing distance. He sighed dramatically getting their attention before nodding towards the unmentionable section. "Ladies"

They grinned, turning towards him. An open body stance like that was good for him. "Yaa I know man, they get all testy with us for looking while their shopping but get as testy if your not looking back at home"

"They whine about everything but can't decide what they want." The second guy chuckled at himself.

"I hear yaa, if they wanted to know if it looked good on them why not ask here, save us some time and money if we say no"

"Oh no man" They take a half step towards him to avoid being over heard. "Last time I told my old lady I didn't like how it looked on her and I damn near lost my head, the one I use more often"

Lucas wanted to punch him for the lack of respect but kept the smile in place. "Dude" He faked his head shake. "Survival of the fittest man! Tell her she looks good, the bra doesn't"

"Oh hot damn" The high five each other. "I never thought about it that way"

"Hey" The one guy looked at his buddy before continuing on. "Your new in town, been by misty taverns recently?"

He paused as if too think about it. "No, the name doesn't sound familiar, where is it? I could use a break from the misses"

They yanked back from him, eyes darting for a moment. "No, it's garbage man. Was just making sure you didn't waste any time there, in fact ignore anything to the east of here, best be going west if I were you"

"Oh? but I was thinking of heading into Northampton..."

Their hands shoot out blocking him. "No!"

He looks at them funny, one eye reaching for the sky, they exchange a look then the taller one shuffles his feet. "Don't go near Northampton, that involves taking the 66, avoid that stretch of the highway. A younger woman was outed in the main mall this morning. Then another caught on the road leading out of town. They say she's infected but hasn't turned yet, there going to run some tests to see if they can figure out why. Didn't you listen to the radio this morning?"

His heart rate triples times it, step mom and dad are out in Northampton. "I can't, moms farm house doesn't have any signals out there, what did the lady look like?"

"Didn't give us much, teenage girl, from New York Island. Must have gotten out before they closed the bridges down. Get this the pretty brunette kept screaming that she was a student selected to work on the infected back at her high school. That it's the governments fault that she's infected in the first place. Something about her supper smart boyfriend figuring it out."

He felt the world start to slid on him, why didn't he figure this out faster. He slapped a hand to his forehead. Chole was the infected student. Darin said Chole was sick while they where working on that infected chick, she was brunette. Oh Chole, you should have known better then to hang out in a large city with it's large police force, what where you thinking.

"You ok dude?"

"What, oh yaa. Do you think she could have some anti bodies in her system, maybe that's why she's infected but hasn't turned yet, could she have a cure for this in her blood?" He watched the light bulb go off in one but not the other.

"Oh yaa, when you get sick your body fights back right?" He watch the other guy try to keep up with them.

"If your immune system is strong enough you build up immunity to what's making you sick. I wonder what she was doing in Northampton"

"Before they cut it off they say she was staying at a relatives that had access to medical equipment"

That's right, Chole's was into mathematical science at heart. She often tried and failed to out do Darin in random math wars. She was damn close to being as smart as Darin. She would have connected the dots too after realizing she was infected, that she was also sick before becoming infected. He needed to call Kandace and get her to track down Chole, they needed to know what she knew. Damn-it he should have told Darin and Anissa to keep track of the others in on the project. "They also said something about her eyes being blood shot before she went savage on some guys arm, hope he's not going to turn now too"

"What?" No no no! She shouldn't have turned so fast after her eyes went blood shot. Kanadce said her mom's eyes turned 12 hours before she did. "All infected are savage, they shouldn't be surprised by this"

"No man, she liked upped the anti, tried to rip the guys arm off, almost bashed another ladies head in, she went batty. Then again everyone knows there going to run experiments on her, maybe she lost her cool and flipped out. If I knew I would if I was going to be a lab rat."

"No, most people flee if they think they are in a life or death situation, self preservation for the win. It would take year of dedicated study, hundreds of hours in mock battle simulations to have half a brain about you in a situation like that. Ch... ances are she likely freaked, lashed out and only made it worse for herself." damn, he almost gave that away. Still the guys where eye balling him, they caught something but wasn't sure what. What a noob mistake to make, thankfully Ryan wasn't here to see that almost mishap. "Are they any other places I should avoid when looking for places to visit around here?" when all else fails distract and evade. Everyone knows that men like to solve problems, so he provided them with a problem to solve.

"Yaa, Mrs. Pies coffee shop a days drive from here, they say she's closing down shop. It's a cryin shame, she had some of the best sweet tea around for miles." Crud that was getting too close to here, and it was a shame, that was some amazing sweet tea.

"Ya, but she's also in her late 60's, her husband early 70's. They should retire, it's not easy running a business, older generations are prone to getting sick. Your a good guy, I'll warn you that there's a real nasty bug floating around. Stock up on med's and be sure to see a doctor right away if you start to feel sick ok. Wouldn't want anything bad happening to you, not that getting sick is the end of the world or anything"

They knew something, most people don't go around telling other people they meet to stay healthy like that. "Oh it's cool, my friend wants to be a doctor like her parents. She won't let me get sick and my brother is just this side of a germophobia , I haven't been sick in like 5 years." Ok, so it wasn't totally the truth but the other guy was standing at the ready, he needed to calm this situation down fast. Nelle was keeping one eye on them and he didn't want her over hear yet. When she moved as if to join him he called out to her, voice dropping a bit low in fake annoyance. "Are you almost done or what?" He watched her look confused for a moment. He said hurry up, his hand gesture said to stay.

"You know what buddy, you can wait till I'm done." The piece clicked into place and she went back to looking at bra's she had already dismissed. Oh he owed her big time for this.

"You are one brave man trying to hurry things along"

"Or incredibly stupid"

"A little of column A, a little of column B?" They had a good laugh at him but he shrugged it off. "I figure it's fair pay back after making me rush through the car parts store the other day." Lol, he didn't know the first thing about cars but the other guy had race car drivers jacket on.

"But will she remember that?"

"Tit for tat, she'll remember, she just may not see it that way. Wow that is one full cart she's got there, with four very different sizes going on?"

"You can tell that from this far away?" Perv, he knew she had four different sizes but he couldn't tell just by looking at the bras... ok aside from Anissa's but that hardly counted. "My brothers girlfriends are out here with us. Were fixing up my mom's farm house, to save space on the car ride up everyone agreed to save some extra up and buy summer stuff while were out here. Why drag it all around when we don't have too" Keep your cover story simple, and keep repeating it. Don't add anything, don't change it and your less likely to get caught in a lie. "That way we can add a bit at a time as we fix it up a bit at a time"

"Good idea, but what if someone breaks up? What will happen to all their extra stuff out here?"

"We would send it back for them, it is their stuff after all. I don't see any of us breaking up any time soon." Tragedies, fleeing life threatening situations, that stuff tended to pulled people closer together. Watching your government blow a building up rather then risk infected getting out was a horror no one else will ever understand but them.

"What if it's a messy break up?"

"We would still bring their stuff back, it would be up to them to do what they wanted with it"

The other thee woman in the lady's only section had finally made their way over. "Well that's sweet of you. What are doing this weekend?"

"Thank you ma'ma, I will most likely be working on fixing up the farm house with my father and brothers"

"Do make some time to come on down to the local craft sale this Sunday. Mrs. Jordan will be there but you best be getting to her booth first or all her cookies will be gone."

His ears perked up at this, head snapping to attention. "She has some amazing cookies. We were there yesterday buying a new porch swing, ended up getting a new patio and dinning set while we were at it."

"Mr. Jordan will be thankful to get ride of some of that extra wood pieces he had laying around then. Probably got a great deal on it too, don't go spending all your money before Saturday, valentines day is just around the corner."

"Crap!" His head snaps around to see Nelle's back to him.

The older lady tisked at him. "Someone forgot"

His face flushed. "Yaa, What time is that craft fair again?" They had a another good chuckle at him.

"Ten am to four pm, but Mrs. Jordan's cookies go by noon so be there at the start if you want more. Her pies are normally gone by 2 and she's all packed up and out by 3"

"Wow, she must have some to die for baking skills, how is Mr. Jordan so skinny?"

"He can't eat a lot of things, gluten for starters"

Oh, that's right Mr. Jordan didn't have any of the cookies on the table, he however stuffed his little piggy face with them. He would have to save a few bucks to grab some to bring to the others and to find something for Nelle. He hadn't forgotten, he had something for her... at home. Lotta good it'll do him next Wednesday when it's back in his night stand draw. "Thanks, I need to remind my brothers as well." He needed to ditch Nelle long enough to see if anything caught his attention at the mall. Maybe he could convince his dad to make a trip into another big city on Sunday if he didn't find anything by then.

"Ok, we gotta get going, hope you have a good one and see you Saturday"

They left off to another section as he bee lined it into the forbidden zone. "Nelle"

"Lucas! Get out of the ladies section"

"Chole's infected" She stopped dead in her tracks, he watched her piece it together. "She was sick, she wasn't in school for a few days, she was also working on that project with the others. I'll explain it all after we get back to the farm house, lets grab and go for now."

They both plaster smiles on their faces when a familiar plump lady approaches them. "Good morning you two, in town so early? why it must be a two hour drive in"

"Good morning Mrs. Jordan, one hour and 20 minutes actually. How are you today?" So ingrained are his manors Lucas feels the need to offer her a seat or to help her with her shopping.

"I'm doing alright, feeling a bit peckish so I came by to grab a few things to help me feel better. When I saw your car parked out front I thought I ought to swing by and make sure your getting on fine"

Nelle zones in on her ever so lightly red nose. "Yes it is best to nip any nasty bugs early on, Have you swung by a doctors office yet to make sure it isn't anything bigger? My friend wants to be a doctor and say's more oj, sleep and tons of water are your best first line of defense. It wouldn't do any good to make anyone else sick"

Mrs. Jordan caught her drift. "Yes I do my best to nip anything and everything right off the hop. Anything else I should be keeping an eye out for?"

"Wait…" Lucas gulps his first answer. "You know…?"

"License plate says NYC, it's several days drive from here. I'm guessing you drove through the night after getting out of the city before they locked it down." she nods at them setting Lucas on edge. "Stop stressing already boy, I'm not calling anyone on you. I'm assuming your brainy brother warned you when he got involved in that program?"

"What?" They both tense up. She points at the tv behind them. The volume was off, but there's pitches scowling across the screen. The extra students that got called in to help with the infected are showing. Amilia, Anissa and Darin's face flash by, complete with name's. There asking for help locating them to find out what they know.

Lucas wipes back around ready to fend off an attack "No! Its not their fault!" he pleads with Mrs. Jordan to understand "They got called in to help, they signed an NDA about what they were getting into, but told their families anyway. They asked a bunch of kids to work with an infected"

"Calm your self boy" Mrs. Jordan waved the idea away "I'll say it again, I ant calling anyone on you. I know you're family, your good people and I don't trust the government too much. Not after what they did to my boy"

"Gorge?" Nelle speaks up when she nods yes to this. "What happened?"

"Well…" She pauses for a bit. "They called on him for help when this first started happening, a few months later her returned and wasn't right in the head with what he saw. Doesn't talk about it ever. Attacked some poor girl one night, she had been sick and poor Gorge snapped and killed her."

"He knew" Nelle pulled out the magazine looking at the front page again. "He knew and they dismissed his claims that everyone was sick"

"Yes, most of us listened to him. Starting upping all are medicine and calling in sick to fight it off right away. Your brother and friends are working on it now too?"

"Yes, a student was sick and turned. In her rush to flee, presumably to avoid making anyone else sick the infected they had brought in also escaped. But by then it was already too late. Half the guards on detail from the first night had spread the virus around and had also turned. The eyes go blood shot about 12 hours before they fully turn, according to Kandace"

"That's what Gorge said too"

"Darin was right" Nelle looks over at Lucas who rolls his eyes.

"That's a shocker… oh wait, no it isn't"

"You brother sounds smart" That tall, lanky boy that likes to creep around corners was back. How did Lucas miss him sneaking up like that. "I don't want nothing to do with it anymore, but he can have my notes" dirty fingers hand over a badly abuse note book. Pages torn out, notes sticking out every where. "Sorry for creeping earlier. But strangers after a city close down are never a good thing"

"Guess we showed our hand too soon" Nell bits at her lip.

"Everyone is already infected, so stay healthy and stay alive. Once the infection takes hold in a few people a smaller town like this is done for. We've lost dozen's of smaller towns that haven't been reported. Countless tiny places and half way pit stop and on the side of the road hotels. Still they refuse to believe me"

Nelle gasps out holding a hand in front of her face. "All those people!"

"Dead by now I'm sure. Take it, I got as far as I could but I can't do it anymore."

Lucas nods taking it. "Your mom and dad need you, keep them safe ok."

Gorge tilts his head. "That's why I'm here despite miss Aneglo's wishes. Stay healthy, stay alive."

If she wasn't in need of more underwear Nelle would have ditched the stuff but, three pairs only last so long and she wasn't doing laundry that often. So she made Lucas start spam calling people while she paid. Miss. Aneglo snorted at the tv screen. "Too little too late again, got everything this time? Making multiple trips in and out of town means them government men can trace your cards here dearies"

"Jesus, did everyone know but us?"

"Anyone with half a brain cell can see the licence plates sugar. But we won't tell on yaa, use the cash back button and take whatever's left in there out so they can't track you that way"

"Leave some in" Lucas steps up to them. "We need to leave a false trail away, thank you so much Miss Aneglo for all your all help"

She blushes, choosing to be coy behind a shoulder. "Oh it was no problem dearies, you take good care of each other. Stay safe out there"

"Will do gorgeous" Lucas waves as Miss Aneglo fawns over the complement. "This complicated is going to send Darin into a fit"

"Yaa but.." Nelle pauses taking the bags back from him as his phone goes off. She looks around nodding, no one is around them.

"Hey…" Lucas pulled the phone away from his head as Kandace let a stream of curses out. He hit speaker so Nelle got to hear the last bit. "I take it their blaming us then?"

"Yes. Sky's parents are detained until further notice. Get out of town and don't go back, it'll be all over the news soon enough with your pictures and everything"

Nelle pointed to the tv screen across the street from them playing in a repair shop. There was shaky footage of the hotel they had crashed at, it's remains still smoldering. "Too late" they hop in the car as if nothing is wrong

"Good luck" Kandace hangs up.

"Aka don't call again" Lucas turns his phone off then tries removes the battery even as he drives.

"Here let me" Nelle takes it from him going after the sim card in it. "Keep your eyes on the road" next she dismantles her phone. "There going to question our family's back home, their going to know that Darin and Anissa told us when they shouldn't have." Her hands spazz on her as tears jumped up again. "If they find them…"

"Hey, just breath. We got too many things to worry about right now so lets focus on one at a time. I swear nothing bad is going to happen to them, they did nothing wrong." Nelle braces herself as Lucas takes the slight curve in the road faster then she liked. "Too many people in town know where here. Darin and Anissa need to take a trip and leave a trail away from us, Ryan and Yvonne can go in another direction."

"What about Sky and Mathew?"

"Will split them up, Mathew can go with Ryan, Sky can go with Darin. We will have to deal with anyone that comes looking for them"

"And hope they don't charge us with treason as well?"

"Praying might help more, here's to a little divine intervention." Lucas took the next turn dangerously fast, he felt the tires slip a little but powered throw it.

Back at the farm house he could hear two of the girls having a screaming fit from outside. He slammed the car door shut but it didn't work, so he slammed the front door shut behind him. Nelle got all of two steps into the living room before freezing in front of him. Anisaa was screaming at Yvonna, there's a shocker they always butted heads for whatever reason. Ryan keeping Mathew back while Mathew kept Sky sheltered was new. A shirtless Darin a million shades of red on the floor was a new thing. "I so don't have time for whatever shit storm you've come up with now Yvonna. Darin would have behaved we all know that"

"Fredric Lucas Harlan" He swears his blood froze in his veins. Instant death wouldn't have been fast enough as he realized his dad was sitting in the chair in front Darin. His step mom half a step behind them. "I asked you to do one thing last night, do you know where I found Darin and Anissa this morning?" His brain abandoned him as he stared death in the eye like a deer stuck in headlights. "NOT in separate rooms, NOT in separate beds and certainly NOT behaving"

His brain screamed abort, abort at him but he didn't listen again. "No way they were having sex." When his dad's eye twitched at this he word vomited all over them at an impressive speed for himself. "Hey Darin asked Anissa out last night, so after dinner and a movie they went star gazing from the safety of his room since it did get cold. And Ameila is sick so Darin said Anissa could have his room and he would sleep on the couch, they must have passed out since they were still up after 2 in the morning that's when I passed out on the couch by accident so he didn't really have a choose now did he. Besides lets be real here dad, it's Darin and Anissa and what do you mean by not behaving?"

Darin and his step mom blinked at him, his dad's eye brow went up and he felt himself shrink down. Oh he was a dead man. "Since went does Darin sleep without a shirt on?"

His head snapped around, eyes narrowing on Darin, some tattle tail signs of misbehavior. "Of all the shitty times to get caught doing something bad and you pick today after that? What the hell man?"

"Langue"

His head snapped back around and barked out at his step mom. "I don't really give a shit about my langue right now Tilia." his step mom backed up half a step gasping at him, his dad rose out of his chair, opened his mouth but he cut him off. "Chole turned this morning after getting caught in Northampton, I'm guessing you just slipped by detection because of it. It was all over the news stations as we left town after some locals let me in on the buzz, she was at the same mall you two would have been. She would have recognized you father, how close did you two come to getting thrown in a slammer that she gave herself up like that?"

Darin bolted up as Anissa shrieked at this. "What?"

So Lucas filled them in. "She was fine, cooperating then something happened that made her flip out. She started yelling out what she could, way too much information for the general public. She's too damn smart by half to risk starting a panic inside a crowed mall. She attacked a security guard, started ripping at his arm, full out body spazzed trying to escape. She also knows that there's no way she would escape from them acting like that. Her eyes turned blood shot part way through and she went ballistic after they cleared up just a minute later, so much for Kandaces theory of 12 hours"

"Or her system gave out after being under so much stress" Anissa screamed at them next. "How close where you two too being discovered, after all that talk about being careful you decide to stroll through a crowed mall? What the shit!"

"Lanuge"

Anissa ripped at her hair. "Lanuge? At a time like this your worried about some swear words? People are trying to eat each other alive, their ripping into each other like rabid dogs and you want me to keep an eye on what words are coming out of my mouth!"

"Anissa" Nelle tried to calm her down, instead she became the target.

"Don't even get me started on you!"

"What did I do?"

The two glare at each other. imaginary eye lasers burning a hole in each others head. Anissa opened her mouth as Nelle's hands balled up into fists

"Flee" Lucas and Darin dived out of the way as Yvonna yanked Ryan in closer to her.

Mr. Harlan steps between the two, palms out. "Calm yourself" He gets irritated female stare down for his efforts but neither make a move. He takes a large breath in, holds it for a five count and exhales slowly. He does it again looking at Nelle, who fallows along with the deep breathing exercises. A third calming breath and a death glare has Anissa joining as well. "Now that we can all breath again without spitting fire. Lets discuses the house rules better, then we will discuss our problems and grievances one at a time in a calm, orderly fashion. Apologies can be handed out, supper will be had and we can get back to the work at hand. Lucas, Crispin fell asleep in Ameila's room as well"

Lucas blinked at this. "I keep forgetting he's even here"

"Thanks dude, feeling the love." Lucas jumps at Crispin talking to him, making the other male laugh at him. "But getting the drop on you finally is worth it"

"You are way out of it" Anissa's hand feels cold to Lucas. "your temperature is also running high again"

Ryan made a passing comment he didn't hear but Mathew chortled at it. "Get some rest, last thing we need is you getting ill like Ameila"

"How is she doing?"

"Getting better" Crispin answers holding a bottle of water. "Her apatite is back, she was hungry when she woke up, but I made her go back to sleep. Rest, it's best for her right now so excuse me, I need to go make sure she's still sleeping after the screaming fest. Darin, you scream like a girl when your busted"

"I didn't scream"

"sure sure"

"No, that was me"

"I've heard you scream, it's not very girly." Lucas felt the need to explain before anyone said anything about the strangeness of his comment. "Back at the university, when you first called me, you screamed before smashing a button to make the alarm turn off. It wasn't a very girly sound, at first I wasn't sure it was you till you said anything"

"You mean I sounded like a guy that hasn't finished puberty?" Her eye twitched and teared up at the same time. Darin back pedaled fast as Lucas froze, he seems to have hit a sore subject.

"No I meant that I didn't know it was you because I've never herd you scream before. Girly in that context means it wasn't supper high pitched and shrilly, you don't sound like a guy at all"

"Ambiguous, that's a good thing you know that right?" Nelle shrugged at Anissa's eye twitching.

"Until your getting yelled at for walking into a woman's washroom because the beach guard thinks your a guy."

"You dressed like one." Sky looks down at herself. "Try showing some skin off, it's a big give away when you lack curves"

Darin face palmed himself then whacked Mathew upside the head. "Make her stop talking, now"

"I should know" Sky pulled her shirt back down, it was sitting up high for her. "I keep getting mistaken for a kid unless the girls are out. It's a downside to being short"

"I would kill for some more curves and a little less height." Anissa rolls her eyes at this, only to see Yvonna cracking her knuckles.

"Be thankful for what you got"

Nelle's eye reached for the sky. "That's easy to say when you've been blessed with that"

"This?" Yvonna points at her chest. "Is not a blessing but a curse. Guys and a lot of girls don't ever locate my face, got any idea how annoying it is to see someone talking to your boobs?"

Sky pouted at her "At least your not getting run over in the hallways and being asked if you need help finding your mommy at malls"

Anissa stepped back waving a finger in each of their faces. "I get asked what I'm doing in the lady's rooms at restaurants. I get mocked for being a push over when buying my own hygienic products till they realize, if they realize I'm girl. I had to grow my hair out and it still didn't help. Because a lot of professional hair dressers keep telling me I'll be mistaken for a girl if I keep it long like this. Then when I tell them that's the point most will look down to see if they missed something. Got any idea how awkward it is having a people stare at your chest like their trying to find it because my voice isn't all high and shrilly like a girls."

They all look at Nelle. "I got no complaints about my body"

They turn on her like rabid animals, each taking a jab at her. "That's because your perfect right? Got just enough without having too much? Middle of the road, vision in whatever you wear"

"Yep" They all stop and look at her perplexed. "The most interesting thing about my looks is how average I am. I am of average height, size and weight for someone my age, gender and race. With the standard face and eye shape, typical hair, eye and lip color. The most extraordinary thing about my physical looks is how ordinary I am. So much so that finding my size is nearly impossible because its the first size to be sold out. People forget me almost as soon as the meet me because there is absolutely nothing outstanding about me. The grass will always be greener on the other side, now lets move on to something that acutely matters. I doubt any of them will complain about how we look if they want to keep look at us without suffering a black eye, cold shoulder or the silent treatment"

"Lucas" Anissa switches topics faster then the rest. "Are you sure it was Chole the radio was talking about?"

"Young woman from NYC Island, brunette, yelling about the government bringing the test subject to her, that's why she was infected. That and her extremely intelligent boyfriend knew everything as well. He was going to solve this and put them all to shame" They turned to look at Darin as he groaned at this.

"How many times do I have to tell her no"

"I think she was yelling it so we knew it was her. If by any chance we were listen to the reports, it was a good way of telling us she was caught without outing us as well"

"I some how doubt we were the only school working on that test subject" Anissa tapped a pen to her lips. "Bringing one infected in would have been hard enough but two? If the government was desperate enough to ask us for help it would be fool hardly to think we were the only ones brought in. young brunette woman from nyc could describe thousands of people. half of the student population was brunette at our school alone. Young could be anywhere between 16 and 22. Chole was not the student that tested positive for being infected."

"But she was sick, we know sick equals infected"

"If that was so then you would be infected right now. If Chole was winning the fight she wouldn't be considered infected either. No, it was Jess that tested positive and she's raven haired. I bet all of our tests would have come back positive if we had waited around a bit longer. But Jess freaked out, since she was the one taking samples at the time she fled out the door but didn't close it behind her. Our infected lady saw her opening and smelt prey. She booked it out and latched onto the door guard, Darin got bit trying to help him then had his head connect with a wall. Cody led her away by waving his arm in front of her face while Sharon helped the guard. I stayed with Darin and called you guys. Darin came to, saw his arm, saw the positive test and slammed the door shut on his end and wouldn't tell me how to open the door"

"She also had access to medical equipment thru a relative, they said brunette not black"

"Chole would know to avoid a large mall if she escaped from the island in time, why would she take a risk like that."

"She didn't prep, they needed supplies. A large mall would have what she needed. Her aunt lives in Northampton, her day job is a nurse" Anissa ran a hand down her face.

Mrs. Harlan inquires with her. "And how do you know all that?"

"Easy, we use to go to the same dojo. Karate wasn't for her so she quite after the fourth year, if she wanted to she could have escaped from those mall rent a cop security guards. She saw you two and new something was up didn't she?" Anissa turned on them, eyes daring them to say otherwise.

Their mom cracked first. "She didn't see me, I called out to her like an idiot. I got that poor girl caught!"

"I was not excepting that" Anissa chances a glance at Darin, he stood their blinking at the wailing woman. "A little over the top, no wonder Darin hates to see woman cry. Your being a bit dramatic don't you think?" his dad glared at her for this. "If Chole was caught it was because she let herself be caught. Lord only knows why, she's a damn skilled fighter. So my guess is she gave up after putting up the fight to make sure you where not outed as well"

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she still fancy's Darin. Maybe she felt herself turning and didn't want to risk any more people. I'm not Chole I couldn't tell you her motivation, or her reasoning behind the move." Anissa shrugged it off. "At any rate your blowing it up and making it sound worse then it could have been. At best she'll get tossed in jail till she's done answering questions. At worse she'll end up as a lab rat being poked full of holes till she dies." Their all staring at her in horror, she double backs on her conversion and comes to the conclusion that she sounded a little cold blooded about all that. "That came across crass, I would be upset if Chole died. I'm just trying to remain calm because I've already had a mental break down once this trip through hell, I'll be damned if I let it happen again so soon"

Lucas's eyebrow shot up before taking over the conversion. "Riiiiight... So, in all the fuss and muss did you get the equipment we needed?"

"Yes, it is out back already. We paid in cash for safety reasons" Mr. Harlan narrowed his eyes at Anissa, but she didn't back down. Darin would have his hands full with a strong willed woman like that.

"Excellent, there's two other problems we need to address then. First, tv screens everywhere are flashing names, complete with pitchers, for all the students that where involved in the extra project back home. Students from other schools as well as ours" Their jaws dropped at this. "They are asking for the general public's help in locating all of them. Second, they are blaming us for what happened at the hotel so we need to vacate this place and leave a false trail behind. If we survive that I think we can come back to house rules and all that jazz after, right dad?"

His dad did that slow blink before nodding. "Agreed, survival first, formalities second"

Lucas hands the journal over to Darin, who starts flipping thru it speed reading as he goes. "Oh yaa, one more thing, those bastards knew. They've know for a while that everyone is sick but refuses to report it. They knew and didn't tell anyone, nearly a dozen small towns have been lost and nobody noticed"

Darin hits the half way point in the book and almost drops it. "My god" Anissa scrambles over to see what has him worried. "We need to scatter for a bit and make our way back here in timed intervals. Once they contact the family's left behind…"

"They could try us for treason" Amilia covers her mouth, eyes wide as Crispin blinks in confusion. "We signed that contract to not say anything to anyone. We broke the law when we opened our mouths to warn everyone when we did"

"Treason. Ha. It'll be straight to jail for us" Darin looks down at a page in front if him. "Yvonne, Mathew, Sky. You will be treated as lab rats. Exposed to any number of possible experiments, all to figure out how you haven't turned yet, till you do."

Anissa slumps against Darin, eyes squeezed tight. "Everyone here will be treated like criminals. Aiding and embedded fugitives. Calling us terrorist and any other label they want to stick on so everyone else will turn the other cheek to what they'll do to us."

"But..." Mathew looks around them. "Won't they figure out that'll we will come back here? We started setting things up already."

Sky looks down at her hands, covered in dirt. "We bought a bunch of stuff…"

"We can make it look like a fall back plan" Mr. Harlan steps up and everyone relaxes a little. "We need some inner defenses as well as outer ones. Lucas, Ryan start brain storming. Sky keep planting things, but leave a mess and break a few planters. This way it'll look like you gave us some easy at home gardens that can be moved around. Anissa and Amilia need to set the barn to look like you were planning on staying but left in a hurry. The rest with me to move some things around before packing a few things up"

Nelle tapped her toes thinking to hard. "It'll look like we planned on staying here should they come looking, but it'll also look like we up and left as well. It'll explain the purchases we made and why where not here if they come"

Lucas nods at this. "Set it up to look like we where here, but suddenly left. It'll make them think one or more of us turned and the rest fled from the infection. If we scatter for a bit it'll reduce the odds of any or all of us getting caught. One science geek per group. I will think of who needs to go in what direction and for how long. No one else will know"

The next four days were labor intensive work. Setting up trip wires closer to the house, digging trenches out in the tree line, building barricades. Everyone was on it, four hour shifts before taking a 30 minute break, then back to work. Lucas started taking groups off to the side. Letting each know where they were to " "succumb to their infection" " before turning around and coming back here. Everyone got briefed on what signs to look for to make sure this location hadn't been compromised once they got back.

Their dad paced in front of the door as they bring their over stuffed bags down. He flipped a set of keys on a ring around his fingers as he completed another circuit in his pacing. Finally with everyone in front of him he nodes once sharply to himself. "This marks the start of a month or more away from each other in a very difficult time. You will be hunted down like animals. The odds are not in our favor of everyone making it home. And even after we make it back we will have a target on our back, so" He flips the keys again. "I think it is time we arm ourselves. Fallow me" Confused they fallow him down to the basement. Inside a triple locked trunk are several wrapped up packages and Darin nudges Lucas beside him.

"Grandpa's collection" Lucas freezes at this as the girls look on even more confused.

"Correct Darin. My grandfather had a collection of weapons made, specifically to be given to four special students one day. He never found what he was looking for. My father looked but did not find what he was looking for. I found what they were looking for, but for legal reasons could not hand these out. To my surprise I found a second set of students that could one day earn there own set. Thought they lack in training hours their sprites where in the right place. So, youngest to oldest a pair of tessen for Sky." He unwrapped a pair of metal fans, flicked them open and closed before handing them over to her. "Light weight, easily concealed and often under estimated." She smiled flicking them open and closed again before bowing and backing away. "Mathew, I know you had your heart set on these" He reveals the nunchaka set and Mathew can barley contain his excitement reaching for them. "Emergency's only, these danger sicks are highly illegal outside of the dojo." Mathew wipes the smile off his face, curls them into his body protectively and nods once sharply before giving his bow of respect. "The lady's weapon of chose, the naginta. You showed great promise with your first swing" He ushers Anissa forwards. "Be weary of the blade, this is not a practice foam weapon anymore"

"Hai sensei" She stands back, bowing at the waist making sure the blade at the top stays pointing up. She retreats to Darin's side as their father pulls out the 6 foot staff.

"The only one with the height needed to pull this off" His dad chuckles at him, but he hesitates taking it. It was a simple wooden weapon, but a weapon still. He detested violence. A thought crosses his mind. He may need to defend himself, and more importantly he may need to defend his family and friends. He gripped it tight, looking up to see how little clearance he had down here. He backed off with a bow as a pair of Sai's were revealed. "Ryan, a good self defense and attack weapon, think before you throw these. Retrieving them will be near impossible in a moving battle out in an open field"

"Yes father" Ryan spun them around, getting a feel for the weight of a metal pair. That long ago moment, that first time he saw them hanging in the ornate dark display case. Like Mathew had wanted the Nunckaka he had wanted the sai's. Thou back then he thought they were short funny shaped swords. He stepped back at peace knowing he was fourth oldest in this group, but just. Nelle's birthday was a whole week after his, and just four days before Yvonna's. It was a close race for first born because Lucas was only a few months older then the rest. Aaaa mixed family's, they can cause trouble and confusion at birthday dinners and parties. Nelle could hardly contain her excitement at the Yuma hand made just for her, she excelled at archery like she was born to do it. she eclipsed their skill level in half the time so that was no surprise to them. Yvonna was given a pair of jutte, much like his sai's they were mostly for defense but could deliver some serious damage inducing attacks.

Lucas looked like a train wreck about to happen when he was present with the katana swords. "The weapons of a leader, of a

samuria. For those that have practice their whole lives, dedicating themselves to the arts." He placed a hand on his shoulder and Lucas snapped his head up in attention. The tension in that basement sucker punched him. "Should I be detained returning the equipment, you are in charge of keeping this family safe." Ryan watch panic cross his face, that was a heavy burden to carry around. Coming in second place was suddenly looking at lot better these days. He had one job as second, support Lucas. Well he had several but nothing like being responsible for an entire family's safety. He looked at his mom, odds where good if their dad was detained she would be too. He looked to Lucas again, the same thought flying across his face. A single, simple nod of understanding was shared. Play time was over. Lucas would need him to keep the others safe, he would have to put a lot of things aside in that case. He watched a similar look cross between Nelle and Yvonna. Darin and Anissa had their own look thing going, before they all did a side glance at Mathew and Sky. Both absorbed with their new weapons to grasp what this all meant. He sighed, grabbing Mathews attention. He gave him a hard stare down, some understanding crossed his face before forcing a smile and taking Sky upstairs first. The flower child in the group had never know hardships. At worst she got some snide comments about her name, a bully or two had taken pot shots at her parents and their dooms day ways. She was getting the last laugh now. With that their parents took off, back to the large city.

With the cover of night Lucas, Nelle and Anissa took off to the east, passing through town to leave a note to the couple. A warning about what may come their way.

A few hours latter, Ryan, Yvonne, Mathew and Sky took off to the west. Leaving Amilia and Crispin to travel to the south in the middle of the night. "Lucas?" Darin frowned at himself. "I should have gone too"

Gorge knocked on the barn door holding the note left by Lucas. Darin startled at this but Gorge put his hands up in surrender to show he meant no harm. "No Darin, I've played hide and seek with the government for half a year, I'm pretty good at it by now. Reinforcements, via one older sibling by the name of Lucas have arrived, since you can't work and watch your own back"

"You must be Gorge" Darin handed the note book back. "Lucas said you didn't want any part of it anymore"

"I don't but I can't turn my back either. I tried to warn them, they didn't listen. Maybe now I can clear my name and help solve this as well. My previous partner shrugged me off too. Right up until he got sick and his eyes turned blood shot. In his final hour he said he could feel the urge to rip people apart consuming him, not everyone, but most. He pointed at another lady, he didn't want to eat her."

"What happened to them?" Darin nodded trying to find some common ground with him.

"He pulled the trigger before I could stop him. She turned a few days later and tried to eat me" he pulls his sleeve up showing off a large ravaged area of his arm. Raised scared dotted in half crescent formations like bit marks. Criss crossed and divided in, like someone had tried to dig his flesh off with their nails. That lady had torn at his arm like a dog does a new chew toy.

Darin grimaces at the lady's handy work. "Ouch." Humans may not have claws, talons and sharp teeth, but they can do their fair share of damage when motivated enough.

"I can't always hold things with my arm anymore"

"Nerve ending damage, lots of scared tissue, with the right medical treatments and therapy you could get full use of your arm back"

"Maybe, chicks dig scars right? Plus it's my reminder to keep a closer eye on my surroundings" Gorge felt a tiny smile creep up on him. He hadn't done that in almost two years now. "Its good to be back at it again, I missed having fellow students around me all the time."

"We don't have much but your welcomed to it" Darin nodded at the new mini fridge. "A good place to store samples. Care to jump back in with me?"

"Lets do this"

"The lab is set up this way for a reason" Darin nodded at the slight chaos in the barn.

"If I didn't know better I'd think everyone got up and ran"

"That was the plan" Darin has to resist the temptation to reorganize the barn. "It'll make a few things cumbersome but worth it if government men show up. I'm hoping they won't destroy everything they touch."

"That is probably a pipe dream, but here's to a little luck." Gorge toasted his beaker at Darin who laughed at him, before returning the gesture with his test tub. "If we need anything I'm sure my parents can help us get it"


	8. Chapter 8

It took a few weeks but they did need something. Food. His parents brought some by. He had a chat with Mr. Jordan, he was surprised to find out about the order Lucas and Nelle had made for them. It wasn't until supper time that Mr. Jordan started to pace. It pulled his mind from his work but he felt it too. That sinking sensation in his gut, something was coming.

Then it happened, Mr. Jordan burst into the barn red faced . "Hide!"

Gorge turned his burner off, Darin hit the emergency stop button on his equipment. They were slowing down expeditiously, the burner might be hot if anyone checked it, but nothing they could do about that.

"So fast?" Darin races to the far end. Under a lose floor board he had dug out a small tunnel, he ushered Mr. Jordan in and turn to look for Gorge, he couldn't see him so he hoped he was ok. "Stay safe and well hidden." Darin slipped under, resettled the board and pulled it tight. He waited holding his breath to help calm himself down. He pushed Mr. Jordan back hearing foot steps getting closer. Lots of them. Clump, thump, clump, thump. Someone was favoring their left leg. There was the slightest hesitation between foot falls. Dust rained down on them making it hard to breath. He wanted to go deeper but couldn't. Why didn't he make this deeper? Someone was calling out clear, someone was moving around, someone sounded mad.

Someone hissed in pain. "The burner's still hot, they can't be too far"

Darin cursed that burner, now they would rip things apart to find them. There was a calm, rich voice floating around him issuing orders. Search the house and the woods. Neighbors places if need be. He would sit and wait right smack dab in the middle of the barn for the time being.

Feet padded above his head, systematically searching. He relaxed a little with each clear shout out he heard. Then it was just the tap, tap sound of a polished shoes hitting the bare barn floors. Finally the man above him grew frustrated. A brief phone call had the man issuing new orders. Yvonne's card got dinged at a gas station a few hours from here, so off they went. Darin sighed to himself, wiping sweat off his forehead. He should have made this hole bigger, his knees ached, his feet felt numb. But when he went to move forward Mr. Jordan stopped him. So he waited and waited… and waited. Finally soft foot falls where heard crossing the barn floor. First away from them, then towards them. Four hours they had been stuck down here, four hours! His samples would be garbage. The floor board above him moved to reveal a worried looking Gorge.

"You two ok?" pensive eyes darted around looking for any signs of injury.

"Where ok" Darin reached up, then lent his hand to help Mr. Jordan . "If we had more time I would have made it deeper."

"More like a bunker?" Gorge tilted his head thinking about it.

"Yaa but I would need more supplies, concrete for starters" Darin sighed again. Something else he couldn't get anymore. "We need better warnings so we can turn things off faster. If they come back and the burner is hot again..."

Gorge face scrunched up, soured by the thought. "They would know at least one of you stayed behind"

"Yaa, right now they may think their right behind us"

"What about getting a new burner and using that one instead?" Gorge inquired

"That could work, once it's shut off. So long as we put it somewhere safe it shouldn't heat anything up enough to start a fire"

"Excellent, I'll see if mom can get one for us"

A week passed, no one else came looking. Gorge's mom came by with a new burner and additional chemicals Darin hadn't asked for. He watched with apprehension as Gorge mixed two volatile ones together. It was a fancy version of a mova cocktail. "Just encase." Gorge had waved a dismissive hand at him before carefully putting it away in a locked cabinet behind other empty bottles.

Mrs. Jordan knocked on the open door. "Several people in town are sick"

"Is Dr. Stanford still listening to my advice?"

"No. I came to ask what else you may need, we may lose the town if anyone turns"

"You and dad won't leave will you?"

"Your dad is almost done the order, a few more hours at most, after that and if it gets bad we will leave to the cabin"

"I would advise on leaving right away Mrs. Jordan, a beautiful table is not worth your lives"

She smiles at them. "I could hardly take a payment and not finish the job." She looked antsy about something, then settled her shoulders. "The government men gave several girls in town a right scare this morning and it raised several hackles on many a parent."

Gorge looks up at this, paused part way reaching for something. "Lisa?"

"She was given a good shake down put promptly lawyer'd up and kept her mouth shut. Put a ring on that girl son before she slips thru your fingers"

Darin grinned at Gorge looking ready to bolt out the door. "Or worse yet, she gets sick" It was a low blow but it seemed to do the trick.

"I can't offer her anything right now..."

"Take her with us to the cabin" His mom offered up. "She's been waiting for you to all these years"

"I know" Gorge looked at the scoop in front of him. "I still have nightmares about that city" He looked at Darin, a single hard shiver raking his body. "I've seen less horrors at war torn villages. At least those bodies stayed down"

"Tell her what's going on in your life, see if she wants to join you. I've got your book, notes galore and two great friends coming back to help me. We can take it from here, go rest and get better Gorge"

"...Ok" Gorge nodes once then turns off a burner. "I'll go find her tonight, then wrap up my stuff here in the morning. By morning I'll be ready to leave. It's been great and all Darin but," He holds his hand up, it quivers. "Rest sounds good right now."

"Grab all the med's you can on the way out"

"No" Gorge looks at his mom. "We can hit up a town closer to the cabin, we will leave a stash back at the house for you guys encase anything happens at the pharmacies in town. I'll add marking towns near by with well stock pharmacies as well to my list, it won't take long"

With that the two left and Darin got about 30 minutes into his work again when his gut wrenched on him. Something wasn't right. He shut everything off, set up the dummy burner and took off into the fading day light. Good thing George had this old van laying around and was letting him borrow it. They needed a way to get around the smaller towns without a NYC island license plate on it. Nothing seemed wrong at first, but as he got closer to town he felt like his shoulders where going to pop out on their own. He tried rotating them to help relax but that wasn't helping. He hummed along to the music. Thought about another invention. Debated quantum physics theory with himself. Even a multiverse debate didn't keep him calm. He spotted the smoke coming from the town and felt a wave of fear and rage flow thru his veins. He parked a block away from the action, choosing to steal the rest of the way there.

A lot of state troopers had formed a ring around someone in the center, towns people where yelling at the troopers. The city street light casting a faint glow, the air was crisp threatening a late spring snow fall. Some girl he had never seen before was screaming bloody murder, she clawed at the man holding her back. Her blond hair swung around with her wide, limp armed punches. Untrained, sloppy, weak. She connected but there was no effect. He took note of her slender build and fashionable clothes. The man wrapped an over sized arm around her waste trapping one arm and clamped a hand over her mouth, he was making just as many mistakes as her. She went savage on his arm, fingers digging in and longer nails finally drawing blood. She took aim at his face with her free hand next, longer nails one more leaving angry red claw marks in their wake. The bigger man shoved her head into the brick building before he could get to them. Her head connected and she went limp. Something happened in the center of the ring to make the towns folk surge forwards. Someone had riled them up into an old school mob. A few even had pitchforks. This was a farming community so he didn't judge anyone. He hopped up onto a garbage container then had to stand on tiptoes to see what was in the center. He somehow wasn't surprised to see Gorge in the middle taking a beating. He saw red when he spotted the prone body of Mrs. Jordan a few steps away, equally as beaten. So the girl screaming must have been that Lisa chick. Mr. Jordan waved at him from a dark alleyway across the street. He made his way over keeping an eye on the would be mob to keep his cover.

"They fallowed them back in from your place" Darin felt sick. "I think they killed my Betty with that last hit, but Gorge is proving to be a harder target. Thou lord knows where he learned such langue" A string of slurred curses reached their ears. Darin could admit he was impressed with the combination, Ryan had never thought to put those six words together when calling out Lucas. "I don't know how to help them and was debating reaching out for you. But I just know neither would be alive once we got back, and poor Lisa may not live through the night"

"Where are her parents?" Darin looked around, no one seemed to be upset about poor Lisa.

"They died a few years ago, but being 18 she was on her own. Can we helped them at all or am I burying my family come morning?"

"We can help them" Darin dropped down into a low crouch then slipped his head back around to look at the crowed. "And their going to help us even if they don't know it yet." A few fast calculations, a double check on two and a sharp nod later Darin had a plan. "Mr. Jordan, I need you to take Lisa away from that man and to bring the van around for us, I'll take care of the troopers"

Mr. Jordan scowled at him. "You can't take on 30 troopers at once, no one can alone"

"I won't be alone, at this size, with a body on the ground belonging to a beloved community member. The reason they haven't succumbed to the infection about to drop at this rate, there already a mob waiting to attack. They just need a push, they out number the troopers 10 to one, they don't have to win, they just have to keep it up so I can get the other two out, but I can't carry two people at once for more then a few steps, a block at most, so I need that van closer by..."

"I'll get the RV from home, I'll be back in 10 minutes.."

"Your son doesn't have 10 minutes" Darin pulled back as a trooper became interested in their hiding spot. He signaled Mr. Jordan across the street, acting as the distraction he needed to make his way to the throng of people yelling at the troopers. Heck if Gorge dropped they may become a mob on their own without his prompts. He didn't want to be here if that happened. His dad may not fair well in an all out brawl like that. The troopers faces reflected his idea, they were not sure about what they where doing. That bod well for him at least. They would be more interested in keeping the peace or helping injured people get away from the mob first, then contain it after. He looked behind him, Mr. Jordan had a passed out Lisa in his arms, making his escape, her would be captor no where to be seen. Another person he didn't know stopped him part way to his first target. An angry looking male shouting out threats already, he was extremely loud, so Darin needed to implicate a few ideas for him to start yelling out.

"Bob doesn't take kindly to strangers"

"If Bob wants to help then he should do as I suggest." Darin needed another big burly, aka all muscle and no brain man to shout out and agree with Bob to help get the others even more riled up.

"Darin right?" The older lady moved around to block a troopers line of sight, she had his full attention now. "Gorge said for you to leave, to not help him if you came in after him. He figured it was a trap but had to know for sure"

"I wont leave him to die like that"

"So tell me what to say and to who, they'll listen to me over a city boy any day" Darin felt his feathers furl at this, he wasn't a city boy... ok maybe just a little bit... ok! ok fine he was a city boy, he would die out here without an internet connection sooner or later. He relayed a few choose words and pointed out his main three targets. She peeled off faster then he thought possible, bee lining it for Bob first. Gorge wasn't looking so good, Darin hoped he could hold out a little longer as the lady got the go ahead nod from his last guy.

Bob started it off, his voice went down an octave into that deep scary tone, country accent thick and throaty he bellowed out. "What did poor Gorge every do to them city folks anyway. He helped them and they wouldn't listen to him!"

"Yaa!" second guy chimed in, pounding the air for effect as murmurers started up and the people took a moment to confirm this with each other. "He helped and now there tracking him down like an animal. Instead of helping out the people that should be getting better medical assistance. What did poor Gorge do?"

"Never mind Gorge, what about his mom? She never hurt a fly, what kind of man hits a little old lady for no reason at all?"

It worked like a charm. Instead of just screaming foul at the poor treatment the towns folk was up in arms about the people at the core of this problem. "We anti never done nothing wrong why are you treating us like this?" Someone not far from him shouted out, it was utter chaos after that. The group surged forwards and started hitting the troopers. Someone was crying out for a medic reaching for Mrs. Jordan. To Darin's great relief she reached for her head. Gorge was so excited by this that he took a good hit to the back of his head. He stumbled holding his head, as the guy took a step to make his next hit a batters swing. That could snap his neck. Darin jumped forwards, pushed the man away screaming out no. That was not a trooper behind Gorge. This man was in a military uniform, but Darin was already in motion. He brought his staff down, hard. Taking full advantage of the extra height and reach. The army guy tried to back up but wasn't fast enough, he hit the dirt spitting out blood. His face already swelling and rapidly turning from red to purple.

"Striking a federal officer is agents the law son, or should I call you Darin Galen Harlan?"

"Darin if you must. But taking that kind of swing at someones exposed neck could have killed him. Plus your not a federal officer, Private Smith." Darin tapped at the insignia on the army mans jacket. "Last I checked this had nothing to do with the military, let alone a grunt in the forces who certainly wouldn't have orders like this. So why is our military beating up old woman and ptsd suffering young adult men? Or better yet why are you offering up young females as bait in the first place?"

The state troopers looked at the man behind them. "You said the feds needed our help tracking a fugitive down" Their faces scrunched up, disenthralled with him and cynical of their actions now. Turning towards them, some with a hand on the butt of their guns. A few of the towns people screamed at this, running away, some stayed to help any of the injured get away. Most of the damaged caused in a riot where to the people in it.

"They do, you did, but its not this little run away they wanted. It was him" The man points at Darin. "And the pretty girls that show up beside your name. Red head was seen going in one direction, the raven hair one in the opposite direction." Darin prayed he was bluffing. "Not to smart thought, still using their cards at regular intervals for gas and food. It's just a matter of time before we bring them in" Darin felt air return to his chest, he was bluffing. Annisa and Amilia were too smart to be caught like that, no they would pay for something as they where leaving. So even when their cards where being picked up on they would still have a head start and with three teams out... No, the army would have their hands full with the infection. They wouldn't have the man power to keep track of three teams, three infested city's. Dozens of small towns in turmoil and who knows how many loss ends in the country side. That's why this guy had called in back up via state troopers.

Ok, if anybody where to slip up he would place bets on Crispin first.

"Well if it's me they want, here I am." Darin opened his arms up wide, no need to tell this guy his reaction time was too fast for any attacks.

Boy was Darin wrong. Don't tell Mathew. Something solid connected with the back of his head. Everything tilted and his legs give out as his world went black.

"Okay, now what?" The state trooper was looking at the army guy.

"Now we tag and bag him." He kicked Gorge at his feet. "The others will want to see this." He grabbed his phone and pressed record as he walked up to the kid. He knelt down and pulled his gun. He tapped it twice against Darin's head, pulled the hammer back making it click. Then pushed paused on his recording. With the terrible cell reception out here it might take a while for the data transfer but he figured it should do the trick. He pressed send then stood back up. "Okay folks, go back to your homes, the government will deal with these traitors." He stared a few down. "Go on before your name is added to list of wanted terrorist." A bunch sulked off, slowly the last few walked away. They had served their purpose. The state troopers looked uneasy, he didn't blame them. Gorge was at least old enough to drink, Darin was still in high school for crying out loud. What the hell did theses two know? That the government was willing to give, for lack of better words, his army grunt ass, the go ahead on whatever it took to get them into custody. He waited, and like clock work they turned their cell phones on at midnight. Checking no doubt to make sure his family was safe, even thought it put him in danger. So predicable. How many times would he watch the video first before calling. Apparently not even once. "Mr. Lucas Harlan?" He answered the phone to the sounds of someone trying to remain calm through deep breathing exercises. "He's not dead, yet" He waited but still no answer. "Very well, I will give you 3 hours to hand your self in at any police station, or more preferably an army base. According to the last bread crumb you left you should be, between two right about now. So it's just a matter of picking one, once I have the confirmation that you, and who ever is with you is in custody, I will let you talk to him. Oh and call the others not with you, they need to hand themselves in as well" The line went dead and he was pleased as peach. The oldest would have to make the conversations short, they only kept their phones on for a few minutes tops. Just long enough to pass on the message that everyone was still alive. It was soon closing in on three hours, they wouldn't leave their brother out to dry would they? Maybe he had misjudged how far away they where to a base or police station. A trooper beside him hissed grabbing for his neck. He hit the ground out cold as the next guy did the same thing. He watched eight of the ten troopers just fall over out cold. He should have asked for backup first before taunting this family. He was at the briefing, they ran a dojo but he didn't put much stock into that, they where just kids how good could they be? His phone went off, surprised he answered. "Lucas?"

"If I were you, I'd be running right now."

"Your not here" He looked around him. The troopers not on the ground had their hands up in surrender, an older man was trying to stare a hole into his chest.

"Your right. I'm not there, but our dad is." The line went dead again as his face fell.

Getting the upper hand on a kid was one thing, facing down a master was outside of his pay grade and he knew it. Somehow he doubted hand to hand combat was going to hold up. And since this guy had taken out 10 troopers without laying a hand on them, all in the span of about 2 minutes. Well he figured he was up shit creek now. "What does he know that the government wants so badly?" He wasn't expecting an answer. The old man charged and despite all his training he felt fear course through him. A single punch knocked the air out of him, bringing him to his knees. The kid had a weapon to cause this kind of damage, he saw none on the old man.

"He knows many things" The old man sneered at him. "Like how your government has been lying to all the people about this." He tossed a file folder at him and he watched it fly like he was suppose to. A round house kick to the temples sent him over like a rock. He would wake up about 20 minutes later with a pair of black eyes, a broken nose and one hell of a headache. He thanked his lucky stars that nothing had gotten him while he was out cold. Then he would wish he hadn't asked and that the old man hadn't answered him. As a grunt he couldn't help them, maybe stay out of their way, but he couldn't really help... Or could he? He looked at the troopers beside him, a few town's folk scowled at him. Hmm... maybe?

... ... ...

The ground was moving under him. No he was moving over the ground, inside the van. He blinked up to see a very unimpressed dad face looking down at him. "We are upping your training scheduled, no more slacking off for you." Darin groaned at this, he wasn't slacking off and his dad knew it, he was studying. He relented, once his dad had made his mind up there was no way to change it.

"It would be best to leave for a bit" Gorge was holding an ice pack to his head. Mrs. Jordan was soothing an upset Lisa as Mr. Jordan was driving the van. "I can keep working on this for you back at the barn..."

"No, it would be unwise to go back to that house, they will rip it apart looking for any clues we may have left behind." His dad sighed, he would have to think of a fourth place to go to, check it out before calling the others back to them, but with so little left in their bank accounts how long could they wait? Even Nelle would be getting low soon, her parents money only went so far after all the shopping she had done for them already.

"I know a place you could use, it's not too far from here" Lisa looked up at them. "I didn't always have a roof over my head after my parents died. So I couch surfed for a few days, trying not to stay at anyone's place for very long. But even then I found myself wearing out my stay a few times." She turned to look at the road. "Mr. Jordan if you would turn off at the old hallows road, go about 4 miles then hang a left at the dirt road. From there we will have to walk it because that road will end and I don't want to miss my marker"

"I do not wish to endanger anyone else personal property..."

She giggled at him. "Not at all Mr. Harlan. This is on government property"

"Hiding right under their noses it is then." Darin sat up and withstood the nauseated feelings coming at him in waves. "I left the note book!"

"It is hidden in the dug out hole. I will return after finding our hiding spot and grab what I can"

They all watched the minutes tick by in muted whispered tones. A long dirt road stretched out in front of them but they did not take it, they went right at a 60 degree angle. walking for almost an hour. A stony edge appeared leading down to a lake. This also ran behind the farm house. Lisa nodded at some gnarled tree roots before gently moving them aside. A well hidden natural cave entrance. A far sized hide-away had been hallowed out of these rocks, thanks to mother nature. It wasn't warm, but it wasn't cold. Hidden from sight but close to water. Easy to find, if you knew the area. It would do for a while. So off his dad went with Mr. Jordan to collect what they could. A scary 7 hours later the sky was starting to brighten up early. Darin chewed on his nails waiting to hear about his family. Did anyone turn themselves in? Had anything happened? He knew there would come a point when radio silence would be necessary for a long drive back home. His head snapped up as the tree's rustled. He jumped up grabbing his head and staff. Then he sighed as his dad walked into the cave. He damn near jumped out of his skin when shadows moved behind his dad. He had fun learning how to breath again as Sky's parents walked in behind him. "Oh thank gods your not dead" he hadn't lied to her after all.

"Of course we're not, why would we be?" Her mom beamed a smile at him. Strawberry blond hair floated down in excessively long waves. Blue eyes shined like a diamond. The Mrs. had aged well and Sky was the spitting image of her mother.

Sky's father had done a few too many hippy drugs and didn't fair as well. His white hair was a fuzzy mess that would not be contained by a single lowly hair elastic. Still his eye shinned with mirth as he entered with a goofy grin. "Anti no feds gonna get us like that"

"My son" His dad pulled him off to the side. "I could not save your work. I am sorry" Darin's heart leaped into his throat, what had happened? "The power was cut to the house and the backup generator did not kick in. I fear your fridge was warm and smelled funny"

Darin sighed. "That is ok father, I was more worried about the paper work. A year of observation right from the get go is invaluable to me right now. I can grab more samples later"

"But not from Lucas" Darin felt his stomach drop out on him. damn-it! Lucas had gotten better there would be no safe way to get such fresh samples again.

"I will work around that. Right now, tell me about the others"

... ... ...

"Are you sure Lucas?" Ryan's leg bounced with the excess energy. Seeing that minute 30 second video clip had been the worst thing ever. Still Lucas was prattling on about how their dad had called from someone else phone and told them not to turn themselves in. He wanted proof that Darin was ok. He didn't tell Lucas how close he had been to walking into a police station anyway. Hell he could still see the sign. He had it all figured out too. Yvonne had "become ill" and attacked them, only he had survived. He had pulled all his money out of his account a few days ago, via cash back. They where about to switch over to cash and start their journey back to the farm house. Making it a full month and a half since he had seen his other brothers. Knowing he almost lost them all tonight wasn't sitting well.

Mathew had gotten sick watching the video. It took all three of them to calm him down. Now he sat on the hood of the car, blanket covering him, hot coco in hand getting cold. Just staring off into space. When Mathew's phone went off he looked at the number and dropped everything. His mug shatter hitting the ground. Sky jumped up awake again, Yvonne startled as Ryan growled out spinning in a circle to locate trouble. "Hello?" He held his breath waiting. "Yes ma'ma. Of course ma'ma. Certainly ma'ma" He handed the phone over to sky. She took it, said hello and started crying. "Sky's parents are ok." He told Ryan as Yvonne silently fell apart. Finally Sky hit speaker button so everyone could hear them. When Darin's voice crackled through the bad reception Mathew felt better. He watched Ryan relax and could only image what the others where doing. It was a bitter sweet and short call. They had been talking to each other for more then 10 minutes, someone would have caught onto a signal by now and be tracking any of them for it. They where told to scatter, stay away for an extra week each and radio silence till the 15th. aka, when their dad thought it would be safe to talk to each other. Anyone listening in would think they meant the 15th of the month, but it was code for at least 15 days of not speaking to each other.

... ... ...

5 days later Annisa was pulling her hair out. She had the urge to travel back in time, to just be more patient, to enjoy those 4 hour long walks with Darin. None stop chatter about any number of subjects, or whatever book had caught his eye in the last hour. 5 days of no talking was getting to her, how would she deal with the next month of travel and no talking? She was probably gonna loss it. Nelle's non stop gossip aside. Lucas didn't say much, dear lord she would take Mathew's comic book nonsense right about now over this. She banged her head on the dash board in front of her startling Nelle

"Did I say something?"

"No"

"Ok... so" Nelle points to the red mark showing up on her forehead as Lucas gets back in the car.

He takes one look at her forehead and hands the phone over. "He'll be missing you too"

"Sure!" Nelle screams from the back seat. "You can totally read her mind and know what's bothering her but with me..."

She cleared her throat. "We all know whats bothering you, just like you both know whats' bothering me"

"There are many things bothering me..."

She cuts Nelle off again. "AND unlike you I am not traveling everywhere with the person I care about most. I have to wait to find out if he's still ok. I have to wait to know if he's still alive, hasn't been captured, gotten ill and turned or any other number of things that could and almost did go wrong. You have to open your eyes to know that" She hands the phone back. "Sensei said 15 days, I will wait 15 days."

"It's also the 15th" Lucas holds it up for her again.

"I could be endangering him again." She watches the sun go down as they get ready to head out. Something about traveling in a car only at night time wasn't helping her either. Lucas was right of course, The cover of night made it easier to avoid detection. Should they be discovered and have to flee it umped their odds of getting away, simply turn the light's off and go off road. Short of a chopper coming out local police would most likely lose them, at least in the dark they were more likely too. She smashed her head into the dash board again.

"Ok, to the back with you" Lucas pointed at her. "Darin would have my head if anything happened." When she didn't budge he flipped the phone over in his hands, as if to call someone. "Fine I'll just tell Darin you've resorted to self harm..." She snatched the phone away before he could do anything and got out of the car, trading places with Nelle. It was back to Nelle talking over the music while Lucas nodded and grunted at times. The phone was taunting her. Look at it, just sitting there in her lap. All shinny and black. Just a push of a button. Would 3 minutes really endanger them all? Could she risk it? What where the odds he would have his phone on tonight? He was probably too busy playing in his lab or hopefully getting a good nights sleep.

Lucas looks in the mirror. If she stares at the phone any harder it'll com-bust on them. He waits for Nelle's lung to complain about a lack of oxygen. "Call him already. Sooner or later he'll get the message"

Nelle looks over her shoulder sucking in air. If Lucas would contribute to this conversation that'd be great. "Yaa leave a message if he doesn't answer, he'll call you back, you could make it a game over the next few days. Give him something to look forwards too. You wanted more, gotta give him something to work with too"

Yaa...wait would he think it was cute or annoying? She willed the phone to give her the correct answer. What if she said something stupid? or too sappy? What if she came across as needy? or worse, clingy? She wanted to smash her head on the dashboard again. It was one stupid probably 3 minute call. Just push the stupid buttons and leave the message already... What would she say? What could she say? Why was this so hard?

"Your over thinking it" Lucas answers from the front. Nelle goes red in the face. "It's the same look Darin gets when he's over thinking"

She snapped. "I don't look like him." Lucas raised an eye brow at this but didn't say anything, Nelle opened her mouth and she snapped again. "Tell him whats wrong already" Nelle pulls her hand back, blinking at her. "It's not that hard to say what's on your mind, open mouth, insert right words here, close mouth again." Lucas pulls the car over onto the shoulder of the road. "I don't need to call him, keep driving!"

Lucas gets out of the car, makes Nelle get out then looks at her. "Yes, you do." He takes them for a walk, she's left wanting to scream at him while starring at a phone.

What is she gonna say? What if he answers? What if he doesn't? What if he doesn't call back? What will she do if he does? She bangs her head on the back of the car seat. She's still banging her head on the back of the car seat as she pushes the right buttons. Stupid, stupid, stupid woman. This was dangerous. Stupid, stupid, stupid feeling. This was ridiculous, why is she doing this to herself? Stupid, stupid, stupid! Her heart sinks when it goes straight to voice mail. Words tumble out of her mouth after an awkward moment. she hangs up and cry's. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Lucas doesn't say anything when they get back, long after she was done, but still banging her head. She stops when Nelle sits back down. Then it's back to Nelle filling the silence in with idle prattle and Lucas nodding every now and then. To her surprise he relaxes a little while driving and adds to the conversation for a change. Guess Nelle said something or got lucky and found a topic he had something to add too.

... ... ...

Darin thought long and hard about his next move. He left a shorter message on Lucas's phone, confused about why she wasn't using her own. Then left the long message on her phone. It turned into a game, for everyone to play over the next week plus. Ryan and Mathew stopped replying first, then Amilia and Crispin. Finally the messages stopped coming from Anissa and the others. He was a bit surprised when Lucas's car pulled into the drive way first. He thought for sure with their last message left only last week meant they would be the last to return. It also meant if any transmissions where tracked someone would know they where heading back this way. Or as Anissa explained, they had not gone very far. Nelle was excited to see the large table out back under a gazebo. Yes he should have used the wood for other projects, but it was spring, soon they could eat outside and he didn't want anything happening to that new table. He had also cleared a space inside the barn so they could store it during the winter months. "Yes I'm sure this location is secure still"

"Are you sure, sure?" Lucas nodded at the table.

"Yes!" Darin rolled his eyes. "Dad watched someone call it in. They had a trooper confirm that we had fled away from this location, to our imaginary fourth back up spot. Since it looked like you had been heading in that direction they believe the idea that you where scoping it ahead of us." Darin did not look forwards to explaining this two more times. "Yes I know I should have used the wood for other more important things first, but eating outside in full sun hurts my eyes." Darin waved a dismissive hand at it.

"It looks good. I was thinking we should put some stone under it, so the table doesn't sink into the ground." Lucas nodded at his idea again. "A grey slate stone would look nice" Darin rested his weight on one side to take a better look at it, then nodded his agreement. "After how much Nelle spent I was thinking we should put a little extra care into keep it looking as nice as possible for as long as possible."

"That's why mom is working on a shade cover to throw over top of it." Darin had not thought to ask what color of cloth or wear she would be getting it from to do this project but they could worry about that later. "We lost the early samples" Lucas blinked at him, then his eyes went wide in understanding.

"So not getting sick on purpose"

"No, that would be a terrible idea" Anissa frowned at them. "You recovered once, lets not push our luck and expose you to a second helping of this. Your body may not win a second time." She sat down on a bench picking at her finger nails before nodding Lucas away.

He took it and ran. Nope, he had his own problems to figure out. Darin was smart, right now he was on his own. Now, where did the other piece get too?

... ... ...

"What do you think of these colors?" Nelle grabbed Lucas's arm.

He went sideways "Colors for what?"

"The summer house silly" she plunked him down in front of a hand drawn picture.

She must have been at this for a while. There was even dimensions for the new, bigger front porch. Where did she get pencil crayons from? There was three lines down the page dividing it up into three parts, two were filled in. one had dark brown on the bottom and a light grey on top. the second one was a solid color of tan. she also added hints of their favorite colors to the seating areas via rugs and pillows. He narrowed his eyes and spotted pillows on a new couch in the living room that would bring the colors inside as well. "It looks nice" She frowned at him. "We got everything in a basic pine, we can have a color on the siding for the house again." She pushes the pencil crayons over. A dark red, burgundy maybe? He only gets a part of a piece colored in when he realizes he doesn't like it. Then he goes looking again. A bright blue grabs his eye, so he goes to town and leaves some of it white. By now Ryan and Yvonne have stopped by to see what they are doing. Ryan grabs another sheet of paper and starts drawing the inside of the house while Yvonne goes looking through the colors. He sets the living room up differently while she add some crazy splashes of color. Soon enough Mathew and Sky start working on the back yard and garden area. Looks like there adding stuff too. There dad even joins in, debating about the bedrooms and bathroom. It's unanimous, they will be adding another bathroom plus a half bath on the main floor. Ryan looks at them, looks around the room, down at his drawing then back at them. He stars drawing a close up of the stairs when everyone looks at him, he says it's wasted space. Just a thought really, they didn't have much in the way of closet space. He thought they could convert it to into extra storage area by adding draws and cupboards. Sky pips up, her parents did it in their house and it worked like a charm. Plus there are stairs into the basement, they could do this twice and triple their space. That's when his dad thinks of adding bedrooms to the basement. They need to redo the foundation, why not raise it up a bit and add two down there with another bathroom? They love it and suddenly they are bursting at the seems with new ideas. Their imaginations feeding off each other, dozens of little half finished sketches lay out on the table.

That's when they hear it. The faint scream's for help. Nelle is up and out the door first. There is something about them that has her flying across the yard towards the barn. She knows that tone. She's heard it before. There's a loud crash and the scream of breaking wood, Darin's cry of pain has Lucas and Ryan bull charging in ahead of her. Their father appears out of no were and drop kicks someone away from Crispin's prone body. Amilia is struggling to pull another guy off Annisa while Darin lays in a pile at the other end of the barn. The old floor boards gave out on the catwalk area. Yvonna slides to stop by Crispin feeling for a pulse while Ryan and Mathew gang up on the chick trying to get to Darin.

"The infection found it's way here!" Amilia grunts out as Anissa gags while going blue. That would explain why the new group of humans was attacking them.

Ryan picks the unknown girl up and throws her out the side door. He promptly shuts and locks it before turning on Amilia. "What happened here?"

Her eyes have water up but she shakes her head. Lucas was busy making fast work of the unknown guy that was trying to chock Anissa. "They walked in, looking and acting fine. I thought they were lost, then they attacked. The guy went after Crispin first, then he came after Anissa. That girl had Darin trapped up there. He fell through the boards. I couldn't let go of the first one or he'd have ripped into Anissa. Is Crispin going be ok?"

"He should be fine" Yvonna answered. "He's out for the moment"

Everyone looked at Mathew. "Darin's fine, he'll come too in a minute or two"

Their dad pokes his head out the large doors then yanks it back in "We have more incoming!" he ushers them up to the high raised cat walk area. "We can make choke points at the ladders" Ryan goes up first with Darin over his shoulders. Lucas goes next with Crispin. The girls next, finally Mathew and their dad.

"Wait" Mathew does a head count. "Where's Sky" He goes to jump down but his father stops him.

"She stayed in the house"

"But"

"She will be safe inside. We need a plan to get the infected away from here"

Mathew runs to the side facing the house and throws open the window. He spots his Sky looking at the Barn from one of the bedrooms upstairs. Then he spots nearly three dozen men and woman shambling their way over. The first three are screaming incoherently, banging on the barn doors. "We need to shut them up" Mathew points down. "Loud sounds and lights attract zombies"

"There not zombies" Lucas looks down at the three unknown people. "But that is a problem. We lost the near by town" Poor miss Angelo from the grocery store looked like someone had chewed on her arm. "There still people"

"Doesn't make them very human like" Mathew sneered down at them, picking up a random object.

Lucas stopped him from dropping the brick on somebody's head. "There still people. She was kind enough to help us while we were in town and they never reported us to the government."

Mathew drops the brick, watching the masses start beating on the barn doors as the first three stepped off to the side. "What do you think Darin will make of that behavior?"

"What behavior?" Darin looks at him.

"The three that attacked you guys have backed off, there watching the truly mindless masses beat on our doors"

Darin and Anissa are right there, shoving them out of the way

Anissa looks at Darin first. "They are displaying intelligent thoughts"

"They are displaying thought patterns, that is a tactical maneuver. Like their attack was. They deliberately took aim at Crispin first, then corned me. They attacked the males in the barn first, the guy walked right by you to do it. Then they ignored the easy meal and focused on you after you called out for help. They all looked right at you, they knew you where calling for back up and they tried to get you for it." Darin looks at Lucas beside him again. "She didn't try to fallow me up, just made sure she was always at the bottom of the ladders. I tried to push her away with my staff but she yanked it out of my hands and tossed it away. Gorge had a section in his book that said some displayed more intelligent then others. That some where more aggressive, but the majority of them are like that."

"It's not just one strain that you have to decode, it's three isn't?" Lucas watched them share a look, then nodded yes at this. "We need samples from two of these people"

"Preferable four, but I can work with two"

"Ok" Lucas looked at everyone. "We can't take that many on, we can't stay here, so we need to draw them away, to a spot that we have a trap set up"

Ryan snorted at him "We have none of that set up"

"They are busy with us, but they don't know about the other three people in the house"

Mathew racks his hands down his face at this. "No"

"Yes, we don't have a choise. If we do nothing this barn will collapse at some point, then it's a matter of time before they are discovered anyway." Lucas half closes the window so the main three infected can't see him, then he holds his cell phone up for Sky to see. Types a message out, then opens the windows up again. He hands Mathew a brick. "Don't kill anyone if you can help it, but take aim at the main three, I need them distracted"

"Your going to throw the phone? You won't get it close enough to the house, I don't think it'll get pasted them" Mathew tugs at his face again.

"No, I'm going to send it via the bucket" He points at the fishing line that's attached to the window, it goes right to the house.

His dad chuckles at him. "I would use that line to send messages to your mother back in the day, that was her bedroom at the time. It stops above the window and will work great, if Sky stops it before it crashes into the house"

Mathew, Darin, Anissa they grab a few thing, giving themselves a small pile of mostly harmless thing to throw down at the growing crowd. On a three count they start chucking things, right at the main three infected. Like a charm they take cover and Lucas can send his cell phone over. Sky grabs the bucket before it crashes into the house, yanks it back inside without being seen. A few moments later just as they run out of projectiles she gives them a thumps up then points towards her dad running for the RV. Mr. Tryphaina slips inside and revs the engine. This grabs the main three's attention as he guns it the mindless mass switches their attention in his direction. The first three start screaming at them but the others can't hear them over the RV's ruckus. Ryan cracks the side door open, with his dad at his back and Darin there with a needle they manage to sneak up on the girl. Grab her around the waste and get a sock in her mouth before she can yell for the others. She fights them, try's to spit the socks out but Ryan easily pins her. She kicks at the ground, thrashing about as Darin gets his samples. Then promptly knock her out. They get all three of the main infected like this. Then they get three samples of masses because they are too busy trying to fallow the slowly doing donuts in their grass RV.

"They knew" Darin looked at Lucas. "They knew the RV was the distraction, they where trying to get them to focus on the doors instead of the engine." He pauses as a commotion is heard in the distance. "I have a feeling that is an aggressive one."

"We need better security." Lucas looks around them. "The farm house was a great idea when we thought they where all mindless and stupid, but this..." he gestures to the three in front of him. "And whatever that is, makes this a hard location to defend. It's just wide open spaces all around us. It would take too long to build a proper perimeter..."

"The other locations are no better. We are set up here, we should stay here." Darin puts his foot down. "It could cost me months of research time to pick a new location, travel to it and set up again. We know the local towns lay out, we have home field advantage here"

Lucas crosses his arms. "We would have had a better advantage back home, you only visited this place twice. It's been 13 years since we've been here. I've been here half a dozen times and I don't know most of this land.."

"But I do" Their dad pointed to the west. "The town is that way, we should set up the majority of our defenses over there. We have a dozen farms out to the east. a few homes out to the south and another city but it's a days travel from here. North we have a larger city out that way, but it's a week of travel time"

"Gorge's list" Darin snapped his fingers. "He left a list of day or two drive away towns near by. I need to go to town, from there I can goggle them and get their lay out. I'll loss a day or two at most, not weeks or months"

"We have a clear space, we are not using our cards anymore, they have no way of tracking us back to this location..." He squints looking into the tree lines. Four familiar outlines are waiting over there. "And I think Gorge wishes to speak to you again Darin"

"We sill have that to deal with" Lucas watches the three dozen or so mass infected going in circles trying to get the RV... the RV! "The RV needs to lead them away, Back to town, then it needs to pick up all the spare wood it can"

"The truck and Van should go as well" Ryan hops down first, Lucas grumbles at this but lets it go

Ryan and Lucas make a break for the house, only a few infected see them and wonder away from the main group. They bounce inside long enough to explain and grab the keys. Then they have to dodge around the infected to get into the cars. The RV is just sitting there waiting for them, the infected banging on the sides. Right, Sky had mentioned how it was steel reinforced sides for just this kind of emergence. It could take a beating and stay standing. Without needing a word the RV fallowed behind them, it was a slow process, taking most of the day to get back to the small town. Lucas banged his head a few times on the van's steering wheel. He pulled up along Ryan and rolled down his window. Not something most people can do on a highway. "I'm going to scout ahead and see what were walking into ok"

"Sure fearless" Ryan waved him on, dropping back to let Mr. Tryphaina know what was going on. He looked into the truck bed to see his three captives writhing around, trying to get their hands free of their bonds. That girl was flopping around like a fish, her screams getting higher and higher. He yells at them, it shuts her up for a few minutes. "Should have taken better care of yourself s in the first place, then you wouldn't be in this predicament right now."

Lucas drives slowly into town, seeing a few people running around. Someone was being chewed on, someone was dead in the street. The local county sheriff's was ushering the left overs from one place to the next. "Officer" Lucas calls out.

"Get out while you can son, they'll be back soon"

"I know, my brother is leading them hear, away from the house. But running wont do you any good if you fall sick..."

"We know. Gorge told us that already. The pharmacy is empty"

"Damn-it, ok, I will lead them to the east then?"

"Sounds good, I'll take the last of them to the west then"

"Is the hardware store still stocked?"

"Your staying at that farm house?"

"Yes, Darin can't move all his equipment"

An older man stopped to listen nodded at this. "Take what you need boys, we can sort it out later" He hands the officer a key

"Bob's dad owns the hardware store at the end of the street" the officer nodded at this, handing the keys over. "Good luck and gods speed"

"And to you" Lucas gets the van turned around and races back. the three cars drive abreast to each other. "Slow it down, the town isn't done evacuating yet, we can take what we need and short it out later. Take them to the East, the towns going west"

"I'll round up any left overs and fallow behind you ok" Mr. Tryphaina nods at this pulling off to the side

"I'll take point then" Ryan pulls ahead of them. The girl almost has her gag off. She's a feisty one. Lucas sticks to the middle ground, they slow it down and add another 30 minutes to their drive time. It's a hard combination to pull off. Going fast enough to stay ahead of the infected, but close enough to keep them fallowing the cars. Humans can only go oh so fast, and mindless uncoordinated swelling brain infected humans are slow. They keep falling over so someone has to keep risking their neck to get out and lure them to get back up. Just before getting to town the girl gets her gag off and starts shrieking her head off. Ryan has to close that little back window and turns the music up. She's caterwauling back there. It seems to urge the others on. The guys start throwing their weight around, smashing themselves into the truck bed sides. It rocks the truck and worries Ryan, last thing he wants or needs is to have this old beater end up on it's side. So he revs the engine loud before swerving the truck to one side, it has everyone crashing into each other. Their dazed and confused for a moment but get his warning, the guys stop struggling as much but chick-y keeps screaming. It draws a few other infected from within the small town parts, they join the slow moving shambling party as Mr. Tryphaina drops back even more. He goes wide, Lucas drops back and goes the other way. He doesn't spot any more but Mr. Tryphaina adds three more to the group. The three move abreast again. "Go grab the stuff I'll draw them away"

"And if those three start up again? And the truck goes over sideways? There is some pretty narrow dirt roads ahead, I'll stick by encase anything happens..."

"No, Lucas you go grab the stuff. I'll stay with Ryan, I have the armored RV after all" Mr. Tryphaina winks at them making Ryan roll his eyes.

"...Fine, be careful you two" Lucas pulls back, goes wide and circles around the outside of town. He has to unlock the store but goes about grabbing a cart. "Hello?" He calls out sensing someone in the store with him. "Hello? Bob?" He wouldn't stay behind for his store would he?

"Hello?" a large man walks around a corner. "I locked up how did you get in here?"

Lucas holds up the keys. "Your dad gave them to me, said to grab what we needed. Gorge and Darin can't move the lab they have set up so we need to build up our defenses, why are you still here?"

"My eyes went blood shot a few hours ago" Bob backs up. "It only takes a few hours, a day at most to turn. I won't endanger my dad by going with him, so I opted to stay here locked away to avoid hurting anyone if at all possible"

Bob was a large man, it would be easy for him to hurt people too. "It was a good idea, I could use some help if your ok with that, your dad said we could square it later..."

"It's fine, Gorge didn't think there was a cure after you turned other then death."

Lucas spotted the hang mans noose at the end of the aisle. He faltered in his steps. Something telling him Bob's dad was hoping someone would talk him out of this. "My brother thinks there's a cure, this is just a rapidity mutating virus. Once he gets it decoded he believes he can fix this. That may not be necessary" He points at the chair.

"I would rather not hurt innocent people" Bob walks past it, his mind made up. "I watched the tv enough to know what I'll become soon enough, what do you need?"

"I'm not sure, it was more of a grab and go idea. Wood, nails, tools, cement. Stuff like that"

"Ok, I got an idea. Start grabbing the smaller stuff, I'll get the power lift to help with everything else." Bob disappears behind the double doors and Lucas takes off to the smaller stuff. His cart is looking full when Bob comes back.

"Keep grabbing smaller stuff, I'll start loading this up." Bob moves around to the back wall where the wood is. "How big a barrier are you making?"

"A large one?" Lucas cursed his lack of knowledge at this. Darin should have come here or even Ryan. Hell Crispin might have been a better option too. "Sorry I don't know much about building stuff"

"It's ok, might as well let someone use this up, words going to hell in a hand basket anyway." Bob points a remote at the tv in the far corner. He turns it up and Lucas see's the news for the first time in almost three months. Washington, Utah, New mexico, Minnesota, Tennessee, New York and Maine had all fallen. They where no reports in or out of those states. Montana, north and south Dakota, Kansas, Michigan, New jersey and here in New Hampshire where being evacuated. North america was in trouble, parts of Europe were reporting mass infected swarming the streets, Africa had gone quite. Asia, Australia and South America had spotted reports but things where blacking out everywhere. Airport and Sea ports had shut down. Anarchy was rising in the streets and just like Anissa and Darin said it would, it was making it even harder to contain this. He hated to admit it, but their government had the right idea to keep this quite. Someone must have said something for everything to turn so fast. "I hope your brother is right" Bob dropped a basket full of spray paint in another shopping cart. "Start marking things up as you go places. Red for infected, Green for ok and Yellow for anything else." Bob coughed and Lucas jumped back. "We should hurry this up." Bob dropped the lift off outside and came back in with another one. "Last one so I hope you got more then just a van for all this."

"My brother has the truck and a family friend has an RV." Lucas answered still staring at the tv screen. Shaky, blurry images scrolled across the screen of different places. People attacking other people, woman screaming, kids crying, men wailing holding a dead loved one in their arms. It was chaos out there. Buildings where burning, theft was happening in broad daylight. He had to pull his eyes away from the screen as the door opened. Ryan stood part way in, eyes locked on the tv like he had been. He looked back and realize this station was only repeating what he had seen. "It doesn't get any better." Ryan had to rip his eyes away, whatever look crossed his face made Ryan step forwards, as if to offer comfort. "Bob's helping but he's about to turn we should move as fast as possible." On cue Bob came around the corner with another heavy lift full of wood.

"Hey" Ryan nodded at Bob then held the door open for him.

Mr. Tryphaina strolled in, grabbing a cart and took one look at what Lucas had gather. He sighed as if disappointed with it then took off to the tool section. "All the supplies in the world wont do you any good without the right tools"

Lucas turned the tv off and went back to grabbing nails, buckets, screws. He opted to grab some concrete mix, he recalled Darin wishing he had some before all this started. All the glue he could find. Batteries and flash lights. Things where about to get dark around here. He grabbed some binoculars and was debating how to get the chains back home with getting them all tangled.

"What do you need those for?" Bob stopped to look at him.

"Darin wants test subjects. We need a way to keep them in one spot for him" he answers

"Crazy, your all crazy." Bob and Ryan just dead lift three different types of chains. Still on their barrels and everything.

A scant 45 minutes later their cars are all over full again. An older lady stands by the van, holding out a bolt cutter for them, heavy duty from the looks of it. "That should get you into any place with supplies that you need." She walks away crying as Bob explains she can't leave either. She has type two diabetes and won't last very long without her medication. Her husband had turned the other night and she was forced to kill him to save a young couple.

"This virus is turning good people agents each other. Stay well hidden and safe ok Lucas." Bob grins at his startled expression. "I remember babysitting you first summer out here. Your mum was sick and your dad had to travel to the next town over, half a days trip to and from. He came into town looking for a cheap sitter because you didn't want to leave your mom but she couldn't take care of you. So he needed someone to keep an eye on both of you. I hated the idea of giving up half a Saturday but took the job anyway. I could always use some extra cash and your dad paid well." He coughs again and shooed them out the door. "Go, before I hurt any of you." He slams the door shut and knocks a few things over in front of the doors as he races to that one spot Lucas hoped he wouldn't go for.

"Lets go boys" Mr. Tryphaina ushers them back inside and takes lead. He stops them at the gas station and pulls out 10 large gas cans. No one was in that station so they help themselves. "Don't use these unless you run out of gas"

Back at home their dad is sharping weapons. Crispin meets them and starts haling things to the barn. The back half has been cleared out for all their supplies. Darin, Amilia, Annisa and Gorge had left shortly after them to the next town for more supplies. They would not be back for another 3 hours at least and Lucas got twitchy. Suddenly his dad sharping weapons at 10 pm made sense. Mathew and Sky had started making a green house for the plants. That small garden would not keep them feed but it would help. Sky kept thinking they should go grab a chicken or two for fresh eggs but no one knew where to get one. Plus they would have to build a chicken coop. Sky's parents volunteered to go looking anyway. They set up a scheduled for patrol posts before bed.

Day one turned out to be a very productive one. Sky's parents even found an abandon farm, complete with animals. Day two had Sky's parents exploring the locale area. The girls set up security systems and inner defenses with trip wires. Day three had Mathew and Sky building their green house and Darin presenting them with some more finished, refined to scale drawing. "I saw them on the table. It's a long shot out of hell, but if we still want to fix up the farm house after this is done, we have plans now"

"Sweet" Mathew looked over them, looks like Darin had added a few things too, like a gaming system for him. "No internet dude?"

"Play off line, dude."

Sky's parents RV skidded to a stop in front of the porch steps. They bailed out screaming "We have incoming!"

The girls ran upstairs, the guys took to the door ways and windows, weapons at the ready.

"... I thought you said we had incoming?" Ryan looked at Mr. Tryphaina beside him 30 minutes later"

"We did, they where on the road, not even 15 minute walk form here, they watched us travel down this road..."

Darin face palmed. "If your windows were up they couldn't smell you, the average infected goes off smell, not sight. Just because they see you doesn't mean they will attack or even fallow you anywhere"

"That's why Ryan had the trucks back window open?"

"Yes" Ryan nodded at Lucas. "We should send someone to lead it away, least we get a group again"

"Good idea" Lucas runs to let the girls know they where standing down

"There was three of them. I can handle that." Mr. Tryphaina walks back out and hops into the RV without waiting for the Mrs. He unrolls the window as he goes, sticking his arm out for good measure. "I'll be back in an hour"

"I think" Mr. Harlan looks at Darin "That a briefing is in order when he gets back, we all should know as much as we can"

"Yaa, good idea" Darin grabs Gorge's note book, plus his own notes and then brings in Anissa's as well. Mathew whips up some lunch for everyone while they wait. "He's late" Darin points at the wall clock.

"By a few minutes, give him some time" Mrs. Tryphaina waves a hand at this. "That old RV... " she pauses as the sound of a running engine reaches their ears. She smiles at him "Told you..."

Sky jumps up. "That's not the RV!" The girls take off to up the stairs again while the guys once more hit the walls beside the windows and doors

An old Jeep pulls up, turns its self around in the drive way. A man gets out and approaches with some caution "Hello? I know your in there"

"You!" Darin jumps out of the doorway scaring his family, he bull charges the man.

"Sorry Darin" He stands perfectly still but braces for impact, eye balling the staff. His jaw line still a little yellow left from the last hit.

Darin stops a few steps back, weapon raised. He takes a few steps back and does a fast check, he doesn't appear to be armed. "Gorge isn't here, neither is Lisa, or any other lady for you beat up"

"The girls are all here, I can see their shadows upstairs" He points to a window, a throwing star is tossed at his head. Shortly after a fuming Anissa stomps her way past the others, Naginta aimed at the man's head. "I said I was sorry"

She screams at the man. "You pointed a gun at his head!" Lucas is there making her point the weapon at the ground.

"Hear him out first, kill him second if need be"

"That will not be necessary" Their dad walks out next. "Officer Smith"

"Not anymore." He rubs a hand on the back of his neck. "The names Stan but my friends call me bishop"

"There is no way to get bishop from Stan or Smith" Anissa's eye brow reaches for the sky

"It's my favorite chess piece, and what I use to take out as many pieces as I can." He answers before rocking on his feet. "Mr. Tryphaina was having some trouble with the RV, I got my boys fixing it up for him and leading the infected away."

"You went to the news stations about this, that's why everything fell apart so fast after the government had kept it contained for so long." Lucas looked back at Ryan, neither had said anything about the news they had seen, or why they were both so gong-ho on getting more defenses up asap.

"Yep" Bishop rocks back and forth on his feet for a moment. "That file folder had enough in it that news lady looked ready to expire from excitement. Our government nearly fell after that as people started demanding they leave office. Some literal head hunters came out offering great deals to just off a few officials. People started rioting in the streets within minutes of that first report. I caused mass panic in the streets, their calling my a terrorist too. My intent was to draw the people's attention to what was going on, not make everything worse"

"The path to hell" Mr. Harlan shakes his head. "Is paved with good intentions"

"Do we trust him?" Lucas looks to his dad as Darin snorts at this idea.

"He is the one that called and told his commanding officers that we had fled from this spot." Mr. Harlan watches his son's head snap to look at him. "I just told you what I over heard, not who was doing the talking, for a reason"

"Indeed, I just wanted to let you know not to worry about Sky's father, he should be along shortly... and should you need anything, call me." He hands a stat phone over to Lucas since Darin has backed away from him.

"These are government controlled..."

"Our government isn't controlling much these days. I suspect internet, land lines and most cell phone services will fall apart in the coming days to weeks if were lucky. I would suggest calling family left behind right away"

"Can you go get left behind family for us?" Nelle's head poked out of the doorway. "Mom's... if she's not dead..."

"New York island still has barracked's in place, it's over run with infected of all kinds. I only have a team of six, most newbies. I am afraid recuse operations are out of the questions as of right now, but should I find a more qualified personal I will go looking for the other families"

"Mine are on a boat in the middle of the ocean" Anissa waves it away...

Bishop looks up at the sky. "They where ordered back to land for questioning... but they didn't comply"

"Did you fuckers murder my parents as well!"

"No! They where detained, last heard of in a jail, together for safety reasons. But like NY island, we have lost communications and don't know if they are still alive or not"

"Yaa find the better suited personal and go after her mom and dad first." Nelle pulls Anissa back a few steps, trying to get her back inside the house.

"And is your other friend not concerned about her parents?" Bishop looks up at the last dark spot in the house, she hasn't moved from her post.

Ryan answers for her. "...no"

"Very well. Call if you need anything, I wish to make up for my mistake" He gets back in the Jeep as the RV rolls into sight. "And I really am sorry about everything"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Telecommunications went down first, within the first 36 hours. Internet after that. The power lasted two week after the riots started. Infrastructure lasted two weeks. Darin is fixing us up with a river dam to help supplement the small time back up generator we have. He needs more wood. Were surrounded by trees so I sent Lucas, Ryan and Crispin out to chop wood down.

It's been a month. So far nothing has come for the farm, thank goodness for small things. Like being out in the boonies. A down side to this is day long trips to surrounding areas for food. And with long trips comes high consumption of gas. A rapidity disappearing supply. We are planning for an extended two day trip away from home base.

I do not trust towns, even small ones. Infected linger by them, often in large groups. If food was not such a huge priority I would not bother going in at all. But we have too many mouths to feed to live off a small garden. Sky and her parents are doing their best, chipping away at the abounded places near by, but we eat faster then we can find it. While I take my wife, Amilia and Crispin into the large city, Mathew will be accompanying Sky and her parents into the smaller town. The boys will be working on finishing a cage structures while the girls keep an eye out for the infected.

I may look peaceful, sitting on my meditation mat but my mind does not rest. That feeling deep in my gut is getting stronger. I tried to pass it off, the world is coming to an end, of course everything would feel off. But the closer we get to leaving the closer I get to changing my mind and calling it all off. Too bad that would only result in us starving to death. The fact that we are taking two cars into the large city upsets that feeling even more. Should the infected come en-mass they won't have enough seating space to get everyone out and fleeing by foot was asking for trouble.

We will have to hit up several stores to find everything we need, when we get back we will be implementing new rules about food habits. Smaller rations will not sit well with Mathew, he along with Sky are still growing. They consume the most, something we can't fault them for, but Darin and Anissa are not much older and they have both cut back already. Yvonna is no stranger to not eating all the time, Anissa has never gone a day without plenty of food. Thou she tries we can all see the tension building as her stomach complains again. We thought cutting everyone back to two meals and a snack a day would help. Not so much. Cutting everyone back to one meal a day and two snacks would help, but how fast would we all get sick when our bodies have so little to work with? Anissa grimaces every time we bring it up. So I'm guessing fast. At least Mathew has stopped whining about the lack of video games to play.

The sounds of an argument break out again. Yvonna has made fun of Anissa's "delicate" system. Anissa fires back with how "poor" Yvonna doesn't get it, or anything. I sigh but my love goes to deal with it. She has always been better at calming everyone down. The fights stops before it starts, only for the boys to get cranky with each other. Lucas lets Ryan deal with Crispin and Darin butting heads.

Lucas knocks once then waits. "Father?"

"Come in Lucas" I sigh to myself as he sits down in front of me. This will not be a new plea with me to stay away from the large city.

"You got lucky twice, are you really going to push your luck?"

"Yes Lucas, to not push our luck would be paramount to putting that gun to everyone's temples and pulling the trigger. We won't last another week without another restock."

"I know" He sighs and it is my turn to wait on him. "Since I can not convince you to stay, I wish to try and convince you to take me along."

Ok, this will be a bit different then an hour ago. "It would be unwise to take you along. For one the others need your help constructing that cage. Secondly they may need your fighting experience. Thirdly, you would end up taking up valuable space we could be filling with more food."

"First, we all know I am not going to be helpful with construction, of any kind. Secondly, do you not need my blades more? The infected has not been here in a month, they will be everywhere in the city. Mother is not a fighter, Amilia no better then Nelle, Crispin is brute force only. You need the back up more then my brothers do. Third, leave mother behind and take me, no wasted space now."

"I can give you the first one. Building is not your thing, but you match Ryan in strength and height, you are better suited to the grunt work Darin will need help with. While your mother and friends are not ideal to be taking into such a dangerous situation I have a plan. Your mother and Amilia will be staying in the cars. Crispin is fast and will grab and go, I have the skills to keep the infected at bay long enough to get the job done. Your mother will not be left behind, I tried already"

"Is that why you got banished to the couch last night?"

"Yes" Lucas nods trying to hide his smile. "We will be fine my son, to be honest I would rather send you out with Sky and her parents but Mathew will not budge on keeping an eye on his lady. And the only reason I agreed to it is because they will have the armored RV. Your brothers inherited her stubborn streak that's for sure." Another knock sounds at the door. "A moment please. Lucas, I am leaving you in charge again. Take care of the family and make sure it is safe for our return"

"Yes father" Lucas gets up looking defeated and mad with me. My wife has come to collect me, it is time we start the long drive.

I hop in beside Sky, her parents giving me an encouraging smile. This is an easy grab and go mission, but my stomach lurches on me. Man my bro's don't trust me, they kept trying to convince me to stay behind. Let Lucas go, he's better at fighting. Ryan is stronger, he'll be more handy in clearing rubble. Darin should go to make sure the right chemicals come back. Dudes, I got a list, I can read it so back the F up! Plus I'm hoping to snag something good to snack on, like chips. What I wouldn't give for a bag of junk food right now. At least they didn't further insult my abilities by trying to suggest one of the other girls go in my stead. Honestly if Sky wasn't going I wouldn't be either. We got some plants wilting on us, we should be taking better care of that garden not chasing down scraps and left over garbage. "You know" I grab Sky's attention. "I never thought too hard on the logistics of a zombie Apocalypse before. Like watching TV and movies, you still see good looking people doing all these crazy things. But this real deal is a lot harder then I thought it would be. Like trying to practice on an empty stomach blows."

"Trying to focus is getting harder, and I'm tired even after waking up." Sky nods at her mother looking back at us.

"It's the lack of food, your body's are still adjusting to running on less. But since your still growing your body will be diverting all available resources to essential systems. This will most likely stunt your growth and could have negative effects on your brain development as well. It's why we are looking for food before it becomes a problem. If we fail to find enough, we still have time to go find more." I nodded at this, Mrs. Tryphaina has a good point. Dad always said divide and conquer worked so well for many reasons.

"The comics are always saying food is hard to find, but, like I didn't think about it yaa know." Sky nodded agreeing before snuggling in closer. "It was everywhere, how could it be hard to find. And there was always a garden option but for half a year we can't grow anything. If Darin doesn't solve this soon we may starve to death next winter"

"It's the lack of hot water for daily showers that are bugging me. I knew we would be getting dirty the longer this went, but I'm starting to smell funky." washing clothes wasn't easy either without running washing machine. It was all the small things they took for granted, talk about first world problems.

"A Rose by any other name would smell just as sweet" I whole heartily agree, my hair is beyond gross by now. Ryan was doing more weights trying to rain in his temper and was more then a little ripe afterwords. Lucas at least took his exercises outside, often choosing to take a dip in the still chilly water to help with the smell. Nelle, Amilia and Anissa sprayed everything with their perfume. I'm pretty sure Yvonna gave up or just didn't care that she wasn't pristine all the time.

This drive was closing in on the 40 minute marker, they should be near the small town by now. He bounced along left alone with his thoughts. Safety in numbers is a great idea. If the numbers are all freaking out and only looking out for themselves it's bad. How many times do the good guys always end up taking in a bad apple and almost end up losing it all? How many times have innocent people paid the price when a panicked person opens the wrong door or forgets to close one? People laugh at this, but it could happen because truth of the matter is, you don't know how your going to react until your in that situation. Even well trained personal, like the army, can have fear take over. Good people make bad choices all the time, add in fear, stress, disorder, and good people will become bad to keep themselves alive. He did his best to never judge the anti villains or rotten people on the shows. They were actors for starters, and they were only portraying how people could act out in real life. Her parents called back, letting them know infected were in bound.. The RV came to a stop and the infected banged on the outside a bunch. "Why did we stop?" I pull himself up to the front, eye balling the side of the RV that infected was going to town on. "Oh" There was a line of infected in front of us. Several people deep. Armored or not, they may not make it through that. "We should go around that many, maybe lead them away a bit too. That'll help clear the town out making this less dangerous for us in general."

"Off roading is possible in the RV, but I'm concerned about craters out in that farmer land. We could get stuck"

"And with no way to call for back up we would be zombie food." I sigh wondering what Lucas would do. "Is there a back road we could take?" Mrs. Tryphaina looked down at her trusty paper map.

"Yes" She pointed at two other options. "They will most likely be narrow single traffic lanes only, dangerous in their own rights. They could have pile up's preventing access. Easier to set up traps as well. Having an armored RV is great, but people will want it as well"

"And desperate people are dangerous. I wouldn't object to helping them, but I can see that heading south fast." I point at the farthest one. "It will add a few hours to our trip but it's so far out of the way that only the locals would know about it, odds are good no one's watching it." I join Sky once more in the back as the RV seems to run over the infected. "We should try to entice them to fallow us for a bit"

"On it" Mrs. Tryphaina starts unrolling her window as I sneaks a peek in the mirror.

I jumps up stopping her with a cry. "Not yet! That infected is right there. Let me deal with him" Nuchaka ready I head to the side door as Sky ready's her tessen. I'll be jumping right into him but a swift kick to the head should be enough. Finally a bonus to not having regular showers, I'll be extra smelly and thus should get the masses attention faster. I peek at the infected, standing there looking right at that mirror. Damn, did they find one of those smart ones? Did it realize he was about to make a counter attack or was it waiting to see if Mrs. Tryphaina finished unrolling her window. Damn, they found a smart one, the windows were up. No way it could smell them from outside but it had attacked the RV non the less. All while the masses stood staring at them. He paused opening that door, thinking back to that set up. Because it was a set up. They were standing in lines, clearly staged lines. "We should avoid this town. Back to home base, now." Mathew slammed the extra lock bolt back into place.

"But why?" Sky fastened her seat belt. They had quite the swanky RV decked out. It was one of those nicer but not top notch models. They rationalized the exspence, if they were going to survive they needed the space a larger model afforded them. They did camping trips in it too at least.

"That was a set up" Crunched over I head back to the front and looks in the mirror again. "That infected is waiting on orders. The masses are too organized, standing in nice neat lines. I bet there are humans in town still."

"Then we should go introduce our self's, let them know what we know. We can establish a trade system with them." Mr. Tryphaina opens his door before I can stop him.

"No don't get out..." He reaches out but Sky's dad is ambushed. That first infected was a distraction. All that banging was covering up the smart one's creeping in on their location. The scream is cut short as he drops kicks the first not all white fuzzy haired head his feet can reach. Speaking of that first infected, he's across the RV's front and trying to chew on him faster then he thought possible. Six of them are out here. He can't handle six. Sky jumps from the RV front seat. Riding that first infected to the ground. She bounces his head off the pavement and jumps up to help her dad. Who is on the ground, trying to keep his arms up to protect his throat. "Get back in that RV!" Sky doesn't listen to him. In her hast to help her dad she exposes her back to several infected. He feels teeth chomp down on his arm as Mrs. Tryphaina jumps out, using her body as a shield. "Get back in the damn RV!" Nobody was listening to him. Mrs. Tryphaina screamed in pain. Sky was cry screaming. Mrs. Tryphaina was losing the fight. Mathew bellowed out. No way was he going out like this. "Sky get back in that fucking RV!" She yelps out as her head connects with the road. She's out like a light. A gurgle sounds to his left, Mrs. Tryphaina wails out, but he heads to his right. Someone latches onto his back, he's forced to spend seconds grappling before throwing the infected off him. Sky's startled scream of pain has his nuchaka crashing into an infected head. Mrs. Tryphaina appears beside him, kicking another infected away before scooping her daughter up into her arms. He smashes a few more heads in, clearing their path. Their nicknamed danger sticks for a reason. The little bit of length afford by the chain connecting them, along with a well practiced wrist snap can have deadly effects to a person's skull. 7 pounds of pressure is all it takes to break bones, and he could apply more then that to someone's skull with these. He reefs the driver side door open, half shoves them inside and turns around. Using the moment from his spin, he cranks another infected over the head. The world is a blur, fuzzy around the edges. Splashes of color and sound reach him but it's all incoherent. Next thing he knows Mrs. Tryphaina is pulling him back inside the RV and races away, tears still streaming down her face. Sky is out cold in the back. A chance glance in the review mirror shows a lot of red, globby things on him. He wasn't wearing anything red today. He makes it back to the bathroom before upchucking and passing out covered in a cold sweat.

Something is holding him still. He jolts awake screaming his fury only to be meet by Lucas's crumpled face and tears. "It's ok little bro, we got you" He slumps back down realizing he was being carried, not held down. Ryan's stoic face cracking around the edges has him worried. Sky! He jolts back up but doesn't see her. "In the bathroom with the girls, clam yourself, Mrs. Tryphaina got you back home." He manages to relax again. The peace is only temporary before he can feel the panic attack coming for him. Hot waves make him sweat, cold waves make him shiver. He can't control the numbness that settles over his whole being. His mind is blank but the urge to run is almost over whelming. Lucas stays while Ryan is off to get someone. He can hear Darin pacing in the hallway before he is allowed to shower himself clean. He is even given some hot water but it can't penetrate the chill in his mind. It's another two hours of staring at the walls, letting Lucas prattle on about things he can't focus on before he gets the bad news. Mrs. Tryphaina didn't make it. Whatever injuries she had sustained over whelmed her system in the end. Lucas asked him something but he blinks back at this. Unsure how to answer. With a sigh and sad smile he let's Sky into the room, leaving them alone but lets them know he's just down stairs if they need anything at all. She curls up into a ball on his bed. He finds the strength to move over beside her, settling in he wraps his arms around her.

"Darin?" Lucas walks into the dinning room, the farthest they can get but still be within ear shot.

Anissa answers him "Shock for starters."

"Brain matter for second." Darin was hoping to get rid of the evidence, scrubbing away at the nunchaka. Thou he wasn't sure if Mathew would ever pick them back up. "I think it's safe to say shit went south."

"Fast" Ryan sulks in the comer, glaring a hole into the world from the kitchen window. "Shouldn't have let him go"

"He wanted to be helpful. If mom and dad couldn't get him to stay behind no way I was." Ryan sneered at him. "Don't even get me started buddy, I tried for the last two days to get them to change their minds while you played kissy face..." Ryan storms out the room

"Not helping Lucas." Darin frowned at him. "You know he feels bad about that already right?"

"Obviously not. Is that going to come clean?"

"I'm hoping so. It was sitting in chunky brain matter and vomit for over two hours, so probably not but I'm working on it"

"I could have sworn I got to the toilet on time." Mathew rips his eyes away while Darin shoves his weapons back into the sink. "Let me guess Ryan got mad and went to beat the trees up again? I'll go calm him down, Sky is sleeping at the moment."

"You did, I didn't" Darin corrects him as he walks away. "You should be resting too" He waves it away. They wait to hear the door open and close before Lucas turns back to him.

"You should be resting as well. You'r whiter then the walls"

"Also shock." Anissa answers making Lucas jump three feet into the air. "You forgot I was here again didn't you. Anyway, I can't imagine what sight meet you three in that bathroom but your all suffering. Scattered thoughts, pale completion, jumpy reactions. How often do you see Ryan coming undone at the seems?" When they didn't answer her she sighed at them. "Let your parents deal with the RV when they get back, I would hate to lose an armored RV but if it's too bad it may be best to burn it down. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help."

Nelle and Anissa made supper that night, the boys tried to get Sky and Mathew to open up about what happened. No go, they calmed up under the questions before Mathew got angry and violent about it. Prompting Lucas to make the others back off. Finally he was shutting Mathew's bedroom door behind him even with Sky in there.

"Dad's gonna blow a gastic if he see's that." Ryan leaned agents the walls, he wasn't about to open that door back up but he couldn't resist.

"They need each other and time a lot more then dad needs to keep an over protective eye on everyone. There not doing anything bad any time soon."

"Besides" Darin nodded to himself. "There smart enough to know better." The door cracks open again, Sky pauses looking at them before heading down to the bathroom. Her face splotchy from all the crying. "They need to de-stress and calm down before they will be willing to talk about it. The faster the better but we should give them time too. Let them come to us when there ready"

... ... ...

Sky looked more like a zombie this morning then the zombies did. Anissa came to the conclusion that Shy was sinking into a deep depressive state, not that anyone would blame her. The best they could do right now was be here for them. Mathew's temper got the better of him after burning the toast, he ragged until Sky left the room in tears again. Lucas suggested a 5 minute meditation cool off, that went over about as well as can be expected. Finally Ryan suggested a spar match, it always made him feel better. Mathew threw a plate at him in lue of a real answer. Darin patted the seat beside him and got a first to the face for his offered to talk about it. So she made him take it outside. Mathew ragged a bit more on the tree in the front yard. At this rate it might not make it to the summer. She was still holding that ice pack to Darin's face when Mathew came back in. He apologized before sitting beside us. It was mostly one sided as Darin tried to help him by doing all the talking. A lot of validating his feelings and emotions, letting him know we were trying to under stand and help him. But he needed to give us something to work with, we can't understand if we don't know.

Mathew heaved a deep breath in muttering under his breath, it's my fault then glancing at me then the door. I nodded as I booked it out. He wanted his brothers not me right now. I could respect that and hoofed it to the barn. Thou I seriously doubt it was his fault. Nelle meet up with me, shortly after that Yvonna did. I was trying to tackle a problem with some coding but wasn't having much luck at it. Amilia would have been better for this part. Hell Kandace would have been better then both of us.

"So" Nelle waved a hand in front of my face. "How long till Sky comes around to us?"

"I don't know" She wasn't the one covered in gore.. She came back almost unharmed. Then again, her mind was in a tail spin so -unharmed- appeared to be the wrong word. Physically she would recover in a day or two tops. Emotionally she would be sacred for life losing both her parents like that. Mentally she had checked out. "She needs time, encouragement and support. If and when she is ready she may come to us, she may choose to seek out sensei for advice. She may throw it under the rug, it happens a lot with kids her age. When they don't know what to do, how to help, heaven forbid she feel like any of it is her fault"

They turned their heads to see Sky scuffing her shoe on the dirty floor boards. "I got knocked out a few minutes into it, so I'm not sure what happened or why mom left dad behind."

"I'm sure Mathew will explain in time"

"No. I doubt it, last thing I remember is being cussed out for not getting back in the RV. He's still mad at me."

"He blames himself, not you."

"Doesn't mean he's not mad at me. He signaled for me to stay inside the RV, but I didn't listen. He told me twice to get back inside, I still didn't listen. Then my head connected with pavement. Next thing I knew we were almost home and he had locked himself in the bathroom. He hasn't said a word to me at all."

"Sky," I get up to offer comfort. The bounce to being female, others are more open to forms and displays of affection and attention from us. So I wrapped my arms around her, hug her in tight and wait for Nelle and Yvonna to join us. She shakes and whimpers but doesn't push us away. I hope that's a good sign. "Mathew is in shock right now, he will take some time to open up about it. Give him and yourself time ok. We are here for you both, if ever you need anything at all alright?"

Nelle cracks first. "I am so sorry for everything that has happened. You never should have had to deal with any of this"

Yvonna comes undone too. "It's shitty right now but where here for you okay little sis."

"It's getting hard to breath down here..." Sky sighs as we back up, at least there's a little more color to her checks.

"I love how fast you can bounce back from anything, it's a talent." I snap my mouth close but she laughs at me.

"I know mom and dad wouldn't want me to mope around so I'm trying to find the light in all this."

"You mean like Lucas letting you get away with anything right now?" Nelle gives her that knowing look, everyone knows they spent the night in the same room, probably will again tonight.

Yvonna waves that away. "Please Ryan would bend over backwards to get her anything to make her stop crying, he's the biggest suck out of them all for that. But don't you dare say a word about that, he'll never forgive me."

"Darin let Mathew punch him in the face to help him feel better." Sky's mouth drops open at this but she's back to grinning shortly, it's a little forced but I'll take it.

"Really think he'd let me get away with anything right now?"

Yvonna gets that devil may care grin on her face. "You'r up to something, I want in."

"I haven't worked out all the details yet, so I'm kinda hoping Ryan will bend over backwards and help even if he doesn't realize it yet."

"Oh" Nelle darts her eyes to the double doors then back to us. "This is gonna be good, count me in..."

They look at me and I sense a trap has been set. Come into my lair little fly said the spider. "Sure, I'm in" I may end up regretting this...

It's all Mathew got out before claiming up on us again. He sits there staring at the floor. I mentally pull out all my hair but take my cue from Darin. Wait. If Darin can see a hit coming and take one for the team then I can keep my mouth shut for the time being. Now I understand Anissa's tendency to smash her head into hard surfaces when frustrated. Breath. Calm yourself, calm your mind, focus on the good. He said something, he's trying to figure it all out. I feel the finger before it even pokes me in the check. "Yes Mathew?" I pop open an eye.

"Your ability to meditate anywhere is awe inspiring." I can't help the smile that creeps across my face, even as he frowns at me. "I'm going to try Ryan's idea of burning the extra energy off, if that doesn't work I'll try talking to Darin. From there I'll suffer thru meditation with you." Yaa being last resort hurts but he's got a point. Ryan has been dealing with angry issues for years, he has an edge over the rest of us. So off he goes with his big brother to duke it out. He gets back in 30 minutes later dripping sweat and still looking pissed off. He takes a shower before flopping over beside Darin. It's another 30 minutes before he begrudgingly falls at my feet with his mat. "Did you want any music to help in the back round?" I offer up, it sometimes helps him.

"I didn't think music was an essential system right now." He eyes me up from the side.

"If it will help I can call it that for the time being, plus it's only noon so we got the sun to see by. It won't be anything fast but I can swing something low to help you focus on a single thing if you want?" He pauses but nods in agreement. So I flip the switch Darin has set up and get an angry grunt from the kitchen but Ryan doesn't come out or complain. I'm settling in as the music starts to play. Mathew has already closed his eyes. He's slumped over but I let it slide, the point is to be comfortable and he's never had the best posture. We sit like this for all of 15 minutes before he cracks. I doubt it's the meditation but a combination of all three that finally breaks the damns. His words come tumbling out, tears hot on their heels. Darin's head pops in from front porch, Ryan's from the kitchen. He's not looking at me so I signal for them to wait. To listen. It's a little hard to make out as he hiccups a bunch, blubbering at times and even stutters but we get the jest of it. It went to hell before they even got in. He thinks humans may have set up camp in that city, if he is right it would be unwise to return. Mr. Tryphaina had a good idea but at the start of the end you don't want to seem too easy or nice. The people will still be panicking. That leads to disastrous consequences in negotiations. I agree with that assessment. Maybe no one is there, but a horde of would be zombies being coordinated by other zombies is too dangerous to risk. Plus from the sounds of it one of them may have been the crazy kind that just keep going. Mathew looks at Darin first, then Ryan, it's the okay signal we have all been waiting for, so they race towards him. Hoping to help in any way. "Did last night help?"

"Hmm?" He looks at me around the group hug.

"Did having company last night help?" I try again. He takes it, thinks about it, opens his mouth and closes it again before finally answering.

"In a way yes. I woke up a bunch but feeling her beside me on the bed chased the worst of it away. Right before the guilt crash landed. I just left him behind, how can I tell her that?"

"From what I gather he was probably dead already. His wife left him behind too, I don't see her doing that if she thought he could be saved."

"Her injuries weren't that bad, I'm not sure that's what did her in." Darin pauses to look at Mathew for a moment. "I think it was heart failure, of a kind. Being forced to pick a family member to save and one to leave behind would have been a terrible burden. Any good parent would want the child saved first. No doubt that's what held her together till she saw the farm gates again. With you out, Sky unresponsive, she made the most logical call one can in that situation. Get the kids out. Don't pouty face at me, Mr and Mrs. Tryphaina were in their early 50's, were all still kids compared to them." His dad was only in his late 40's. "Crude" Darin snaps his fingers thinking about it. "It's their anniversary tomorrow" They all startle at this. "We should have a nice dinner prep for them when they return."

"If?" Mathew looks at me. "The small town was over run what are the odds the larger city isn't infested to the max?"

I blink, look at Darin, look back at Mathew and see Ryan shake his head no at me from the corner of my eye. No shit Sherlock. "Extremely low, but dad is the best. I need to believe he is taking care of everyone for us." Mathew nods with me, but he doesn't look any better. Still I can't lie to him, the odds are over the moon high on us that they won't be coming back. I still call a halt all activity for the night, Ryan and Yvonna make supper this time, we watch movies till everyone passes out in the living room.

I wake up to my dad shaking my shoulders, he doesn't look happy with me. I see the sun high in the sky from my prone potion, Nelle in my arms still. I place a finger to my lips before he can say anything, when he scowls at me. I feel the tears burn my eyes. He pauses instantly with worry etched on his face before helping me to get up without disturbing the others. Out side I open the RV up, show him the bathroom and tell him what I know. He's more distressed about it all then we were. He wants to burn the RV but will ask Sky if that's what she wants, till then he will move it out of sight. Mom is crying her eyes out. Amilia and Crispin are not holding it together either. I send them to Anissa, they have some bad wounds that need dressing. Dad cleans himself up while I help Ryan bring their haul in. A big one too. Of course dad's plan goes off with out a hitch. Well almost. Some injuries are to be expected. They even helped several people out. That's good, the infection may have taken hold but there are still other people out there fighting this. Mathew and Sky slunk off to his room at some point, that's why he was mad with me. But after finding out he leaves them to sleep it off, if the company is helping he will let it go. Getting too close to fast can be dealt with, getting sick and becoming the infected is still a death sentence right now. Darin is making great head way on one of the strains but the other two are mutating too fast for him to be effective.

It's muted around here. It's one thing to see disaster on the screen, it's another to be in thick of it. Traumatized comes to mind. I watch Sky walking around, she's smiling at least, but it's not reaching her still glazed over eyes. It will take another week before Mathew enters the kitchen to cook anything. His second favorite pass time was trying new things, he sticks to bare basic's now. I wish there was more I could do to help, but staying strong and being here is the best I can do. Anissa was mumbling about a type of medication to help them, but it's not something you will find outside of a large city pharmacy. The out skirts of a large city almost ended badly, no way there getting into the inner part of one without more loss. So I'm left staring at this stat phone, wondering if it will even work. I got one call, one shot that he's listening to his end. I start it up and push call on the only number in it. It rings and that gets my heart beating. But no one answers. Bishop and his team may have fallen trying to help people. I wait for the battery to die out, then ditch it on the front porch. Time for plan D then. Full frontal assault. We can't keep moving in this dazed dream like state. Agents my better judgment dad talks me into letting just him and mom go this time. She'll still stay at the outer edges of town, helping like last time, he will stealth his way into the center. The others flip their shit on me again, but I can't stop them. I am once more left in charge of keeping the others and this area is safe for their return. I am expected to keep everyone in line for a week. A week because the closes location that is most likely to have it is 2 and half days drive from here. What could possible go wrong in a week? Ask Mr. Tryphaina how fast things can go wrong in an hour.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"I'm gonna kill him" are words I never expected to hear coming from Darin. Still his eye twitch, facial muscles are tight. Shoulders scrunched up, he's fightin' mad about something . "I'm gonna kill him"

"So you have said already. Who and why?"

His neck muscles spazz making his head twitch like his eye. He is wound up tight about something. "Ryan" That is not a shocker, they have always butted heads the most. "His clumsy ass tipped over a container and now I need to make a trip into a town and hope they still have what I need."

"He was trying to help with the cage still, I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose."

"He should have been watching where he was going"

"How? You had him hauling big ass metal beams around."

He sighs before rubbing his eyebrow. Good old logic always works in calming him down. "Fine, I could keep a cleaner space to help. But I still need those chemicals how are we going to get them?"

"We still have the truck, I'll send him and Yvonna into town for them. They need some alone time too, away from the rest of us."

"But" Darin looks between me and the door way. "Just the two of them?"

At least he's still worried about Ryan, he can't be that mad. "Yes, I'm sure it will be fine, the near by town was more or less empty even as we were leaving it. They shouldn't run into too much trouble. They can even grab more wood for us too, I still have the keys around somewhere"

"Wasn't Bob in there?"

"Bob also hung himself, I doubt he'll be an issues" I set off to find Ryan, already talking with Yvonna, perfect. "Hey Ryan"

He throws his arms up in surrender. "It was an accident"

"I gathered that, Darin is cooling his heels but he needs to replace those chemicals. He's writing a list, I'll be sending you two into town to get them for him. I'll finish helping with the cage"

Yvonna eyebrow reaches for the sky. "Just the two of us?"

Ryan waves it off for me. "It was almost empty last time we were there. We took the hoards away from the town and the towns people went in the other direction. A few stranglers where locking themselves in their homes. It should be clear, to be sure we can drive around and see if anything comes for us, leading them away as well. Hey, think it's ok to hit up Bob's?"

"I was hoping so. Be careful okay, not a lot of people know how to set those up right." I toss the keys over. "The faster you get going the better, it's noon already, you'll be cutting it close to getting home before the sun goes down as it is."

... ... ...

I know Lucas and Ryan said this should be easy, but after the last attempt to go into a small town I wounder if their thinking this thru or not. Then again their dad went into a large city and came back fine. Perhaps it was the people executing the plan, not the plan it's self. Mathew had tried to tell them to stay inside the RV, it was the rookie actions of Sky's dad that had everything going south on them. I try to put it away as we get closer to the small town. There doesn't appear to be anybody hanging around the outside edges. Ryan drives thru revving the engine with my arm out the window. "It's hard to believe the doomsday prepers never thought to take some kind of classes for self defense."

"Not a lot of people think about it." Ryan spots one running after us so he slows down. "They think adrenaline will carry them through, or give them some kind of supper powers and awesome fighting skills. It doesn't but they never look into that. They stock pile their food, they create bug out bags and places to hide. But they almost never think about the potential combat situations. Actually it's kinda amazing we got out. It was cold of us to leave everyone behind but the right move. Most people that do have combat training are more likely to try and help and save people and get caught in the cross fire. Resulting in their death because the untrained ones always mess it up. I almost lost my brother because of Sky and her family. Thou I feel for her, I am also mad about it."

"It's understandable. They panicked, Sky should have known better but her fear got the better of her. You know I hate to say it, but Lucas has a point of keeping Nelle and Anissa back at the farm house. Always on look out with orders to get others and not deal with it on their own. Their pampered, they have no idea how bad it can get out here."

He looks at me with an expression I don't understand before sighing at me. "I wouldn't say pampered, a little sheltered, but not pampered. Anissa is expected to keep a 95% grade average at all times. Anything less results in a grounding until the grades are back up. That's tough on any teenager in school, her system must have been stressed out all the time. Nelle use to get beat up tons before coming to the dojo. She's way too jumpy even know, makes me wounder what happened. They may have had it better in some ways, but no body's life is perfect"

"I got my ass handed to me because I didn't want to loss weight to keep him happy."

He scowls at me, lips puckered and eyes silted. Little wrinkles appearing on his forehead as he over thinks something first. "Yvonna... That was two years ago, you've grown so much as a person since then, why are you still holding onto that?"

"It's not something I can just let go. I tried a whole bunch of times but the memory keeps surfacing. I even tried therapy but that didn't help, he said it may stay with me all my life. I'm not trying to be difficult, I want to let it go. I can't seem too"

He grabs and squeezes my hand. "Clearly I need to take your mind of things better." He gives me that wink, he's up to something. I'm both intrigued and concerned about how much trouble were going to get into over it. "The pharmacy is over this way." He drives the infected out of town, then guns it back in to lose him.

Once more in front of the pharmacy my stomach drops again. "I know it looks like a trap waiting to be sprung." We can't see inside it, the lights are all out. For all we know there's a horde in there looking right back at us. So I'm stuck in the truck while he sticks his arm inside the door to see if anything comes running. The idea was to create his own kill zone, to let them out one at time to deal with. I'm sitting here watching his back as he yanks his arm back out before an infected slams it's self into the door. He opens the door letting the old lady out. She gaunt, ragged and a few weeks into this madness already. She has suffered several blows already but keeps coming, true to the mindless mentality.

Something moves to my side and I see another mindless looking right at me. It's a little creepy but it can't smell me so I'm ok. He pushes his face agents the window, smashing his nose in, it would be funny but his nose has been partly ripped away so it's smearing blood everywhere. He takes a deep breath creating a bloody air bubble then turns on my window, he's screaming, smashing his face agents it. I freak out and see Ryan turn to see me stuck in the truck. Damn, while I was watching his back I was being surrounded. One jumps into the truck bed and starts smashing his fist's on the roof, another one is clawing at the window on the other side. Damn-it, there's a smart one around here somewhere. I hop over to the drivers side and get this hunk of junk in motion. I let him know I'll lead them away and be right back as he temporarily jumps into the pharmacy to keep his scent down. Once more with my arm out the window I drive in circles for a few blocks, picking up a whooping 6 infected. I do another circuit before heading out of town picking up 8 more.

I am so board. Banging my head on the steering wheel, silently wailing out my agony.

The highway is meant for speed, I should be pushing the limits. But humans, even deranged ones, can only go so fast. I bang my head on the steering wheel again before thinking this should be far enough. There's some tree coverage coming up, it would be perfect for another ambush. At least I get to muck up this field, off roading is one of my favorite waste of time things to do. A glance in my mirror shows they are not fallowing me anymore, they stopped at the field edge. I hit the breaks, one is standing off to the side. When I rev the engine a few start in my direction but that solo guy is screaming at them, so they back up. That's the smart one then. I have a chance to take him out, person vs. metal truck, I'm not betting on the squish-able human. I get the truck turned around in this bumpy field and gun it, heading straight for him. He screams again and suddenly all 14 are heading straight for me. Shit he's using them as a fleshy shield! I yank the steering wheel to the left and take off back into the town, it's a 15 minute car ride but that translate into like what, an hour plus walk? We got lots of time.

Ryan is chillin' outside the pharmacy checking off a few things. A pile of infected on the side. He bashes one over the head when it starts to move again. So he's been sitting around, knocking them back out, for like a half hour now while still gathering supplies? Show off. I stop the truck in front of him, staying in my spot as he loads it all up.

"That's not even half of what Darin needs. We could be making another trip into another unknown town. Bob's is down this street"

"I lead the infected that way."

"You've been gone for an hour, I'm sure it's fine"

"The smart one fallowed me then used the others as a shield when I tried to take him out with the truck."

"Are you sure it was the smart one? Cuz I found a guy coordinating the attacks inside the pharmacy. The infected where stationed at key points."

"Maybe we got unlucky and found a pair of them. Or because the towns folk knew what was happening some part of their brain made the connection to stay close to the drugs cuz non infected would seek them out?"

"That's a lot of intelligent thought process for someone with a brain swelling virus."

"That's a lot of trouble for us, no matter how you look at it."

Ryan pulls the keys out, knocking on the windows as he makes his way to the front while I turn the truck around, so it's load and go. Nothing comes crashing into the windows this time so that's a bonus. He unlocks the front door and waves his arm around again. Nothing comes so we walk in. I'm bent down by all the small stuff, something about needing more glue and battier's. Looks like Bob nailed his hang man act.

I'm bent down scratching my head looking at the battier types, what size did we need again? Meh, I'll grab them all. Then I'm going side ways with teeth in my arm and hands in my hair. "RYAN!" At least it's an arm and not my neck. I didn't even hear it coming. Supplies crash across the floor. Pain sears it's way across my nerve endings. My heart feels like it's going to overload it's going so fast. I hear feet running my way as blood and droll covered teeth snap at my neck. I can't even reach my weapons. One's pinned under me, the other over with the supplies. It's a big guy pressing down on me, It's too much weight, I can feel myself flatting out. I try shrimping, turning over to my side and pulling my knees into my chest, to help give me some distance to work with but it doesn't work, he flattens me out again. I try scooting back but he crawls along with me. A familiar set of hands appear around the guys throat and yanks up before tossing him into the shelving units. I suck in air pushing back to give him room only to feel another set of hands around my neck this time. At least I have access to a weapon this time. I aim for the face, or rather an eye to be excite. The tender little thing explodes on impact but she's not letting go. Her teeth nash at my face, fingers digging into my throat. Something goes crash beside me. Something sharp digs into my side. Voices ring in my ears as more foot falls can be heard. The edges of my world get blurry, my lungs are screaming for more air. No more misses nice girl. I reach out blindly, grab the first thing I can and swing it for her head. A pair of scissors connect and she goes over sideways wailing. You'd think brain damage would stop her but it doesn't, she rips them out and dives back at me. A glance to the side show we have 3 incoming, trying to figure out how to get around things. I scramble up, taking off to the side I hear Ryan calling out to me but I'm already in motion. And like good little stupid zombies they all fallow me. He's having trouble dealing with that one guy, no need to add more to it. I burst out the front doors and take off to the other side of the street, I recall a side ladder on one of the building. If I can go up they can still smell me, still see me but not get to me. This should be enough to keep them off Ryan till he can deal with that other guy, then he can lead them away and come back for me. From the safety of the store top nothing can get me. I need Anissa here to tell me how to treat all this. I'm leaking blood everywhere and that's not good.

I'm half way up the ladder when it shakes on me. Almost tossing me off. I doubt they like the fact that their meal is getting away on a technicality. I giggle to myself, clinging to the ladder as it shakes a bit more, once it's done I start climbing again. It starts rattling again and I'm forced to stop and hold on tight. Once more in motion I chance a glance down and see one of them coming after me. Shit, someone can still climb. It's ok, it's just one. I can handle one. I hope. It's an empty rooftop as I catapult myself over the side. If I had the time and tools I would simple de-attach the ladder from the building, but I don't. So scanning around I spot a good hiding place behind an air conditioning unit and hoof it over. I slid into place hurting myself, don't tell Anissa that, and hold my breath trying to bring my breathing back under control. I hear the crunch of feet on roof top, a few tentative steps and then nothing.

You can still climb but your still dumber then dirt, you can't see me so you can't try and eat me. Then again they track by smell, maybe he can tell I'm up here but he can't tell where I am. He takes a few more steps then stops. He's trying to narrow down my location. This is giving me time to regain control but it's also rest time for him. I can hear him getting closer, I can also hear Ryan yelling for me like a duffus. I jump up calling his name, screaming for him to take the others away while I deal with the climber up here with me. Hearing the Trucks engine roar to life is like music, good he heard me.

Hands once more around my arm yank me back. Took to long and teeth are coming for my face again, I manage to get my Jutte up in time. Chew on that jerkface. He's not impressed and spits it back out. So long as I can keep any more damage from happening I'll be happy. It turns into a pushing contest, he's trying to drive me to the edge of the building. I'll take a pass on falling, even if it is just one story up... then again, I can trip him over the side and get a few minute break. Or he won't be able to climb up again. They degrade fast right? I let him push me back, a few inches at a time, I still need to give Ryan time to lead the others away and get back here. Inch by inch I give up ground, taking the odd one back. I don't know how far Ryan will go, how long it will take. I let him take a few inches this time, feeling my muscles protest with the continued strain. I need to give them a break. So I let a bunch more go and feel my back foot hit the edge. I take two back, giving myself some space and prep this for a throw. He gives me the under arm brace, then pushes into me, giving me exactly what I want and need. To toss his ass over the side.

I tuck and roll and still manage to hit my own head on the ledge but buddy goes for a free fall over the side. He lands with a crunch on top of a car still down there. He seems to be dazed and I gulp in lung full after another of air, shaking my tired limbs out. An ache has already started in my legs, my head spins and I sit down hard. I flop over and relax for the time being. It can't be 5 minutes later the guy crunches the car some more getting up. I peek over the side and he can't stand up right, falls over and lays there for a bit more. I thank whoever is listening up there for the reprieve. As the sounds of someone climbing up the ladder comes again I hear the sound of the truck. If I toss buddy over once more I should have about 15 minutes to get down, around the corner and into the truck. I stay near the edge this time, I don't want that engine announcing our position for long if I can help it. Sure there's not a lot of infected around here, but it's still enough to cause us some issues. Like buddy bull charging at me this time. His friend hot on his heels.

Crud.

I choose to let him come all the way to me, ready myself for a tuck, roll and toss. Looks like I'm taking the short and fast way down. How mad do you think Ryan's gonna be about that? Buddy even gives it all to me again. I grapple my self into the right position and bend backwards as we go over. It's a short fall but I'm not turned all the way around when we hit the pavement this time. Something cracks in my ear, something snaps to my left and my whole arm goes numb. It was over so fast I didn't even have time to feel any pain, that's not a good sign. I toss whatever's left in my stomach as the world spins and colors blur. Arms around my waist are pulling me out of the mess and tangle of limbs. The truck seems to be getting closer. At least I think it's the truck. The seats feel like the trucks do. The door closes beside me and seconds later the other one opens and slams shut. Something slams into my side of the truck. It's buddy smashing his bloody face into my window. The truck takes off at break neck speeds and Ryan's voice floats into my ears. He sounds mad. "I know, it was a stupid move" I can't make out his words as everything goes black. I swear if I wake up to angry or crying eyes I'm gonna be pissed. It's just a broken wrist, I'll be fine.

Anissa is trying not to freak out. She can't tell if she set everything right. A compound fracture, it's kinda gross seeing someones bones sticking out of their skin. You know the saying, go big or go home. The world is ending situation is not the time to test that saying out. As it is, I'm left trying to calm Ryan down and get a coherent recap of what the fuck happened this time. 72 hours into this and I'm already down a friend. I'm doing a great job don't you think. I offered to spar, I know it helps him calm down the fastest but he opted out, wanting to stay close by. The stress on Yvonna's system right now, combined with the cough she developed on the way back is bad news. Really bad news. Anissa is shoving pills down her throat as fast as she can swallow. Mathew made her a full meal and used the last of the eggs. Pound for pound there the best source of protein for the size you get them in. She needs a lot more then we do to keep the cold away. From what I gathered from Ryan and Mrs. Tryphaina before she passed. I think they had the bad luck of running into the crazy kind that keep coming for you. Ryan said no matter how much he hurt that first guy, he kept getting back up. The mindless masses keep going, but they slow down the more damage you do. The smart ones avoid damage as much as possible, it's the crazy that maintain the most motor function. This make them like a berserk-er, extremely dangerous. Fast, angry and agile. Not a combination you want in your enemy that wants to eat you alive. An enemy that can't even help it so your stuck between a hard spot and a rock. There still human, there still alive, they could get better, so we have to pull our shots. When Darin suggested the cage in the event someone gets sick I didn't think we could be using it so fast. If Yvonna is the first one in there Ryan might not fare well. There are only so many weights he can push himself thru to help.

"Lucas?" Nelle pokes her head into my room. I've been in here for 3 hours talking myself around in circles. "May I come in?"

"Always" I knew the one line from her favorite movie of all time would make her smile. "Does Darin need my help with something? No, is it Ryan or Mathew? No, looking for some cuddles?" She lays down and curls up in a ball so I wrap myself around her. "What's wrong?" Last thing I need is another crisis to deal with, but I will if she needs my help.

"Nothing new, I'm looking for some alone time. Yvonna has gone for a nap. Anissa is back out in the barn with Darin and Sky is at least outside with Mathew. There looking at the garden but haven't done much yet."

"Sitting out in the fading sun is better then coupe'd up in a room." I lay a kiss on her bare shoulder before letting my head rest. Mindless chit chatter has always been her thing, her being so quite has me worried. She's not sleeping, just thinking to her self so I let it go. A lot has happened in a very short time frame, we need some time to digest and process everything.

I wake up to a gentle knock on my door, Anissa peeks her head inside and whispers. "Breakfast will be ready soon. No one misbehaved after you passed out."

"I didn't think they would." I wave her away, shaking Nelle's shoulder to wake her up. "Hey, time to get up" She buries her head into my pillow mumbling about 5 more minutes. So I count down and get an evil eye for my efforts. She is so not a morning person. "You got your five minutes, lets go before everything is taken." She relinquishes the pillow before dragging herself out of bed. Then half falls into a chair before I put a plate of food in front of her. She looks pale and I side glance at Anissa, already sizing Nelle up. Who doesn't even stop eating when Anissa's hand lands on her forehead.

"You'r cold, dress warm today." Anissa backs off and I let it slide. After the so called breakfast we go separate ways again. I find myself doing laps checking on everyone, much to their annoyance. Nelle is down for a nap. Ryan sits by Yvonna's bedside talking to her. Sky and Mathew are back at the garden trying to figure out why the plants are wilting. I'm not sure I have the heart to say they put them out too early in their attempts to get a larger garden going. Amilia and Darin are back in the barn making humming sounds and generally looking unimpressed with whatever they see under their micro scoops. Anissa is chilling out on the look out at the top of the house. Crispin must be doing security rounds at the edges, out of sheer boredom I go looking for him.

What I don't find is Crispin. What I do find is infected. Someone impaled themselves on our barricade. Gross, now I have to clean this up. By order of Darin everyone carries a pair of clean disposable gloves on them for such a case. Blood can carry some nasty things. So I struggle with them, almost breaking them but finally get them on. That icky wet but powdery feeling leaves me stretching my fingers out, how do they ever get use to this sensation?

This guy is about my size, around my age and weight I guess. Normally not a problem but I'm lacking energy today. I'm struggling to lift the dead weight at that awkward angle when someone bites my leg.

I, am not impressed.

The human mouth is full of germs, that's so gross. I drop the dead body into the hole that bugger was hiding in. Chew on that, now I need to find Anissa and get some antibiotics started again. I should have looked down. Hell, I should have looked to my left. Maybe then I wouldn't have been taking by surprise and ended up with a face full of dirt and a spining world. I understand Yvonna's frustration at not hearing the incoming attack. Their learning control. Or I'm dealing with more smart infected. Dead guy could have been a ruse. I wasted my energy before I even got to the fight either way. A hand grabs my hair and yanks up. Another hand grabs my leg and yanks back. Teeth sink into my leg again. Pain lights up my nerves endings. I suck air in and taste blood. Gotta deal with one thing at a time. Who ever is trying for my throat gets the elbow to the face. The one chewing on my leg meets my other foot. Damn-it. I hear more incoming as teeth nash on my arm this time. That hurt! A hockey sticks swings by my head before hot wet liquid hits the leg that's been chewed on. Crispin you idiot. He may not know either so I kick at the arm still attached to me. Pull and twist my arm to break free of another girl that has a death grip on it. That's going to leave marks. Wood snaps, Crispin yells out about the crappy stick. I leave him to it. Twiddle dee and twiddle dumb in front of me are getting on my nerves. I am not a chew toy! I hate to use it, but we got even more incoming. I can hear someone screaming. Screamers are never good, they attract even more infected. That lady needs to be silenced, before we're over run. I jump back, I need space to swing and a second to draw a sword. A second is all they give before charging. I hate the idea of killing or permanently damaging someone, but Crispin can't deal with four at once. And I have to shut that screamer up.

Something I noticed right away with the highways shut down and nobody in near by houses. Out here in the boonies, sounds travels exceptional well.

I take aim. I swing. They drop, incapacitated at the moment. I dash off to the screamer, no doubt she'll have a few others with her. As dumb as it is, I rush in. I spot six in total. Our defenses can withstand that, I think. Still, the first two drop before they even know I'm here. The screamer kicks it up a notch as the other four form a shield in front of her. Someone bellows from further out. Crud, that sounds like a crazy one. I can't breath. My head hurts, my leg burns and my arm is going numb when my stomach drops out and I almost toss my lunch. Swords, there made for killing. This in not an injury inducing weapon, this is a taking your life weapon. Dad trusted me with it, to never use it unless there was no choose. Right now I don't have one. Screamers bring crazy. Crazy are fallowed by the mindless. Mindless always have a smart one or two hiding in their ranks. I hope their family's can forgive me. Assuming anyone is left to morn. Thundering foot steps tells me I'm out of time. I charge. I scream right back at them. I feel the weight of the Katana glide thru the air. Feel it cleave thru flesh as I spin to stay out of their reach. I doge the next one, taking aim at the screamer. Only to go flying backwards as a crazy body slams into me. Thundering foot steps are still making their way here. I break the fall and manage to keep my hold on the sword. Go me! More teeth are sinking in, I can't help the scream as he yanks his head around tearing into my arm. A flash a sliver sinks into the crazy's head, he instantly lets go and my arm is freed. Crispin goes flying by bellowing war cry of his own before his blood covered wooden bat connects with the screamers face. She drops. Darin appears out of no where on me before taking another to the ground. I think he snapped, he's never been prone to violence before. Mathew is even out here, taking his current pent up energy out on two more mindless.

My world goes sideways and my stomach threatens to empty it's meager contents on me. Will power alone has me not spewing on Ryan's clean shirt. He's talking to me but I can't make the words out over the sound of ragging water in my ears. He starts leading me away and I try to turn, Mathew and Darin are still back there. Something about Crispin handling it comes thru before the world slides to the side again. Nope, that was me going over. Ryan lays me back on the ground, away from the others before returning to deal with the crazy that finally arrives. Flashes of color blur, I fight the blackness back. Ryan commends their movements, Darin auto corrects strategies, Mathew fallows without a word. Even Crispin is listening.

Oh I am in shit when I get better. They only fight like this when I'm injured. Like this one time, shortly after Mathew, Ryan and their mom moved in. I got my head bounced off a school wall, still not sure what I did to anger the guy but. They all pounced on him for it. I had a major concision. Dad sued the school and the kids parents. I think he even won both. Ryan's back in my face. I see four fingers and two phantom ones. He and Crispin pick me up. Apparently I'm not allowed to walk right now.

Back at the farm Anissa is cussing me out. Nelle left in tears, even Sky is giving my shit. Yes, they understand the screamer had to be dealt with. No, they don't understand why I didn't wait for Crispin, who's giving me the cold shoulder and silent treatment for ditching him like that. Amilia was left on weapon clean up duty, Ryan's stewing in the corner, Darin is glaring daggers into my chest. I sit in my bad dog corner and wait for them to finish and leave so I can nap already. Mathew leaves going on about telling dad all about this when he gets back. I pout at his retreating form. I did my job, I made sure the farm was safe to return too. Anissa clears the room for me, something tells me I'm not getting off easy.

"Idiot"

So knew that was coming my way. "And?"

"Stupid, pig headed male b.s comes to mind too" She's gearing up, wait for it... "Of all the ill-advised, moronic, asinine" ... wait for it, she's getting to the big words now... "vacuous and preposterous things to do...pure cockamamie and maladroit. Malaproopos"

"You done yet?"

"No! Undexterous." She smacked me upside the head. One of the best things about Anissa is how fast she calms down after losing it. For good measure she hits my arm twice. "We have to make a trip into a large city now. I don't have what you need."

"We ran out of antibiotics?"

"No, a brain. Clearly yours in not functioning right now."

"I wouldn't go that far"

"You should have thought farther then the next 10 seconds"

"I was aiming for 30, I fell a little short so sue me." She glares at me before tugging harshly on her next stitch.

"You know what I mean"

"I thought I needed a new brain first"

"You keep this up and you'll be first in that cage"

"Yvonna is getting better already?"

"No. It's the only place I can't reach you to hit you"

"How did Darin find the most violent female amongst them all?"

"Talent. Or Luck, one of the two" Without mercy she stabs two needles into my arms and pulls samples. Guess I'm at an elevated risk again with so many bite marks. "If these come back clean go kiss you'r guardian angles for working over time."

"Double time and a half?"

"Are you not taking any of this seriously? Six bite wounds, blood born infections and disease aside, the germs found in a human mouth! Your lucky nothing broke! The infection can be spreed by bodily fluids, including saliva from one of the infected. Six. Six times you could have been infected."

"Breath dear"

Yaay! Darin to my rescue.

"Six!"

"He ran into the woods without backup because of how seriously he takes his job. Six is a lot, but we already know it's more likely to sneak in on a cold or flu, not the wound inflected. Ryan and Nelle have a plan of attack for a larger city, I need your help working out who and when." She stomps off muttering more about my lack of intelligence. "Lucky doesn't even begin to cover it. Divine intervention may not cover it. We need more food, you where caught unaware back there, twice." He's back to glaring a hole in my head before leaving. "Rest, it will help where the food shortage is failing you."

Rest? With dozens of stitches, a pounding headache and upset stomach? I lay down and hear them arguing in the kitchen.

"I should go" Amilia slaps her hand down on the table. "I'll take Crispin, but you can't go Ryan."

"And why not? Your going into a larger city, you will need my skills"

Amilia narrows her eyes to little slits "At stumbling around in the dark? Stealth is the way to go"

Darin rolls his eyes. "Cuz Crispin equals stealthy to you?"

"More so then Ryan right now. His skills at bashing heads are needed out here, the farm needs to stay safe to return too. With Lucas out for the time being that lands on his shoulders."

Mathew sighs at them. "And neither of you are fighters like the rest of us. Crispin bashes heads in as good as Ryan, but stealth in not your thing, either of you. I'll go in with you, I can stealth fine"

"Mathew" Ryan's hand shouts out but Mathew waves it away.

"I'll be fine, I'll take Sky with us to act as my look out. She and Amilia can stay in the car while I take Crispin around with me"

"That sounds like a good way to get everyone caught" Darin rolls his eyes again at Mathew snorting at them

"I could always leave him with the girls and go it alone"

"No" Ryan slams his hand down again. Of all the times to miss a flanking opponent Lucas decides to get blind sided now. "Take Amilia in with you, she can grab what we need and you can watch the doors. Crispin can keep an eye on Sky in the car. I'll stay here and keep an eye over Darin and the others. If anybody snaps I'm the strongest and most likely to be able to man handled them into the cage."

"We should set up a second one" Darin rubs at his temples fighting off his own headache, Lucas is a high risk again.

"Something else you'll need my help with. Just clean my work space and surrounding area this time, replacing the chemicals is proving to be difficult already"

"Indeed"

"We should wait till dad gets back home" Lucas leans on the door jam. "He's the best at this and knows what's waiting for him inside a city"

"Time is not a luxury we have." Anissa scowled as him some more. "They are going to the closer, smaller city a day away from here. They will be gone three days, tops and back before he even knows its a problem"

"Will it make much of a difference if I get the meds one day later?"

"2 hours can be the difference between life and death, the faster you get them, the better. Even if it's only a day. Plus we have to assume he gets back at all, or on time. And even if he turns around minutes after getting into the drive way he still has at least 2 days drive, making it not a day later but a week after the bits. Infection will be settling in already, you'll be zombified before he gets to the city. Never mind back and that's also assuming he doesn't get turned around, delayed or eaten. Nelle, make him lie down and stay there, he's going to pull a stitch if he keeps walking around. Rest, make those bite marks work for ever inch they take. Give use a few more minutes to help save you for a change."

Lucas's head tilts to the side, he blinks once and spits a bunch of words out without thought. "You've been saving us all from the get go. Who's been helping Darin bounce ideas around, who helped figured a piece of this virus puzzle already? You Anissa. It's your dad's medical books were taking pages from, keeping us healthy. It's your mothers books that are keeping us sane, or at least as sane as this group gets"

Darin waves me off, and like so I'm banished from the kitchen. I start pulling him away before he gets the urge to give us all an -we can do this- inspirational speech. "Come one Lucas. They have made their minds up and you know what their like after that"

"Impossible." He grumbles before hobbling along beside me. "Am I that high risk again? Is it wise for you to be fallowing me around?"

"I'll be fine. I was told to make you lie down and stay there. Your the one putting everyone in more danger by putting more stress on your system after getting chewed on." His eyes dart over to me, I know he heard the crack in my tone but I keep pushing him onward. Speaking of being impossible when someone has made their mind up. "Get your butt in bed mr." He oddly complies, even lets me pull the blankets up to his chin. "Now stay" an arm snakes out to pat the bed beside him. "Fine"

"What's wrong?" It took him all of five minutes to ask it.

"You could have died out there alone like that. Had Anissa not seen the infected rampaging at our defenses and heard the screamer, we would have never know you were even in trouble."

"Crispin was there"

"Crispin was losing, it would have left your back exposed. Watching the boys rush after you, while being told to stay safe back here hurt. I know I don't have the same experience as you guys, but if you all fall, it's only a matter of time before they find us too."

"Are you asking to be shown more advance moves?"

"...No, my intent was to show you that if the boys fall, we all fall. I would rather go out beside you in a fight. Not weeks later cowering in a comer."

"More advanced moves it is then. Your not ready, but if we stick to 2 or 3 and repeat them to death they may stick."

"Not until Anissa clears you"

"Yes ma'ma"

"Good, now get a nap in or else"

He closes his eye but cracks one open at this. "Or else what?"

You left that way to open for interpretation buddy. "Or else I'll leave and you can chill out here alone for the rest of the day." He promptly snaps his eyes shut again mumbling about testy woman. He falls asleep in record time, big black rings under his eyes told me how tired he was. The added warmth was all he needed. To be on the safe side I stay put for a while. I have to wait for him to turn away or I'll wake him up trying to free myself. I swear he gains an extra pair of limbs after crawling into bed, every time I try to remove an arm to crawl out there's another one there in it's place. And heaven forbid you should bump the bed at all, he sits up rim rod straight, awake and ready to go. Long term that could be an issues. I bump my bed all the time back home, getting into, out of, walking around the room. I have this talent for finding a new corner to stub my toe on everyday. So much so that my left toe has lost some feeling in it over the years.

I manage to escape and get out of his room without waking him up. About three steps outside his door I hit the one loose floorboard in this whole house and cringe to myself. I swear to god he walked on this very spot on the way to his room, why does it only squeak for me? Sure enough his head pops out. I turn back around pointing back into his room. It takes a whole hour to re-escape this time. Someone used tape to mark a big red X on that spot. Probably Darin. So I step around it and then start testing other parts of the floor before applying my full weight to it.

"It's how your stepping not where..." Ryan speaks to my left and I jump three feet into the air clutching my heart. "Your still landing flat footed"

"I almost landed my face on your ceiling. Make some noise will yaa"

"Wheres the fun in that?"

"Jerk" He smiles at me, big ol' good boy charming smile like he's got nothing to worry about. "He's finally sleeping"

"Good, meet the girls outside, don't forget your weapon this time"

I don't actually want the extra lessons. Back home Lucas breathed this stuff, to spend more time with him I tagged along. "Fine" I trudge my way over to my temporary room and go hunting for the yuma sensei lent me. It's a big bow, I am not hauling that thing with me everywhere I go. Plus, limited ammo people, arrows are not easy or fast to make by hand.

To my surprise I'm the only one out here. They must be in the barn. It proves to be empty as well. What was I thinking, the equipment is in here, they must be out closer to the wooded area. It would make the most sense to take the clanging of weapons away from the ultra light sleeper. I don't venture into the wooded area but part of me is temped. Ryan said to meet the girls outside...so I'm here but they are not. Where is everyone? I loop back around to the barn calling out for everyone.

Something bounces off my head. I stomp my foot and get another rubber throwing star in my face. I can feel the wet paint dripping down. If that was real I would have a few new holes to decorate, possible one in my brain. Sure, tell me to meet them outside but don't mention that training is already under way. Bloody ambush tactics. I slump over to the front porch. The designated "safe" area while training is in order. I get to wash the red pain off. Back on the front porch I get to put my initials beside Ryan's score board. I can feel my face twitching seeing my initials besides so many score board names. Only Lucas hasn't tagged me in the war tacit games. Thou I know for a fact he could have several times, he just didn't. Ryan, oh Ryan, he looooooves taking me out. Anissa too, I double check, she's got me 8 times since coming out here. We've only played three times. This is depressing. On the plus side, I have 5 minutes to get into position once I'm back out there, can't camp the front porch for easy kill shots. I now see my special arrows for this drill. Blunted with a foam tip that I can dip into my light blue washable paint.

I only got 6 names under my score board, but there all head shots (bonus points!) A head shot is worth three normal kills, so while I don't have as many as Ryan, mine are almost worth the same amount. His throwing star kill is only worth one point. Your weapon gets you two, unless it's a head shot. I pick up the extra throwing stars sitting beside my special arrows, that had I been paying any attention I would have know the game had already started. I pause part way down the stares. The truck is gone. Crud. Yvonna and Lucas are out with injuries. Amilia, Crispin, Sky and Mathew are gone to get meds. That means it's a battle royal. Darin and Anissa weren't in the barn, it's every person for them selves, first one to five kills wins. I already gave Ryan his first one.

Okay, bring it jerk. I high tail it over to the Barn and shot up to the catwalk area. I'm a little exposed but I have the height advantage this way. None of them can get to me without exposing themselves to an attack. My goal is not to win, I never have. My goal has always been to not provide the most points. With Sky and Crispin not here that leaves Anissa and me at the bottom. I crouch in my corner, keeping an eye out the window up here with me and the odd glance down to the back door before an even faster glance at the big double doors. Ryan busted the side door so I'm not worried about it. Then it's back to the window. This is a waiting game too. I have my spot, now I need to wait for one of the melee fighters to come looking. And that's everyone but me, I can totally camp out in my spot. To my surprise Ryan wonders by with purple on his back, fallowed by Darin with grey on his face. Ouch, head shot by his own girl. With the way Ryan is laying into him I gather he celebrated his victory too soon. I start my mental count down after they mark their initials down, if one of them stays close by I got my first target. My only other place is out in the woods for high ground. I'm cooked on the ground, maybe I do need the extra practice's after all.

I don't think about it, just let my body do it's thing as I pivot where I kneel. Pulling back and firing, I'm not even fully looking at the shocked face of Anissa not 10 steps from me already on the catwalk. Damn, she almost got me while I was busy keeping tabs on the guys. I turn back around as Ryan takes off around the back and Darin heads this way. Fickle sticks. If he see's Anissa coming out with my color he'll know I'm in here. I stand up, pull back and let it fly before he reaches the front double doors. The fake arrow harmless bounces off his head leaving my paint dripping down his face, 1 minute after his safe time was up. One arm is extended out, reaching for the door as Anissa walks thru it, also covered in my paint. I see Ryan poke his head around the house and start laughing at them as they walk back to the house. Down side is, they all know where I am now. If they rush me I can't get them all before someone gets me. Even worse Ryan knows I'm in here, he won't come near here till I get tagged and am forced to change locations. And so long as they don't charge me, I'm basically done this game till they take each other out enough times. No judging, that was a strategic move. I can't win, but at least I won't die a bunch and risk losing. If you "die" five times it's a loss and you have to do extra next practice. I watch Darin go by twice more, Anissa three times and Ryan once with Anissa's color this time. Ryan needs one more kill to win this game so I sit down and twiddle my thumbs for another 30 minutes. I wounder if he started it as a way to keep us in motion, or because without Lucas here he's the most likely to win.

I'm chillin here when this sense of dread washes over me. Like someone is watching me and being supper creepy about it. I have the high ground, I should be safe. But something is telling me to run away. I peek out the window and see Ryan sneaking his way over here. Oh, so he wants to end the game how he started. By taking me out. I knock an arrow and pull waiting for him to get close enough but he hovers outside of my range. He looks up and smiles at me. Shit! I dive away from my spot as Darin's foam covered Bo swings by my head. Their charging me! I guess it is a way to force me to practicing my ground game. I dive past Anissa and take aim again. It's only a body shot but she's out and losses by fake death 5 times. I scamper down the ladder and back it up, Darin's staff will have to be put away to make the climb, he'll be wide open to attack.

I take a step back and watch a throwing star sail past my head. I snap around taking aim for Ryan bull charging me. He throws another star and I'm forced to move, my arrow fly's past his head and lands beside Darin's part way down the ladder. I race out into the open back field. Head shots are worth the most points but are the hardest kill shot to get while in motion. I need to take aim for the body, the mass of a person for a higher chance of hitting them. I pull back once more as Ryan keeps chasing after me. His rubber sai and three throwing star shot past me this time as my arrow hits his gut. He's a little shocked, looking at the washable paint dripping off him. But turns away and walks back to the house.

Now, where is Darin? Sneaky little bugger is around here somewhere. I'm wide open out here but he can't bull charge from the barn. I'll see it coming a mile away. I should be out of throwing star distance. There. He dashes across the barn opening, he's going wide around me! So I wait for a three count before dashing back to the barn. Not two steps in I'm throwing my weight backwards as the Bo once more sails past my head. Oh the little shit duped me. Hide and seek it is. I race around to the front, going wide with arrow already knocked. Come one, make a mad dash again. I spot him half hidden behind a post, one eye looking at me already. I got one minute before Ryan joins in this again and my back is wide open to him. I glance back, he's got that smile on his face with more throwing stars ready. I run into the barn and throw one of my stars trying to force Darin out into the open. He won't budge. He's well concealed, he has the advantage. I have to get closer to incite him to step out, even a little bit. I put the main weapon away and pull out most of my stars. We start off with 10 of them. I've used two, and have seven in my hand. I can see the ghost of a smile on the one side of his face he's showing, he drops the Bo and pulls out a bunch of his own stars. My aim has always been better with distance weapons. We're out of time, Ryan will be making his way over here by now. So we both glance at the double door and charge each other. Stars go flying. One arm is out in front of me, acting as a shield for my main body mass. limb shots don' count as kill shots, so the four stars that bounce off my arm and the three that bounce off his don't mean anything. I dive to one side, he takes to the other shooting off our last star in our hands. I scan the floor, I only see 6 of his color laying around, either he used the other four or has one as back up like I do.

I see Ryan's shadow pass by the back door, bugger is trying to sneak up on us both, when Darin's head pops around I lock eyes with him and nod to the back door. He pivots and watches Ryan almost stealth his way in. We grin at each other and make a dash back to our discarded weapons Darin takes lead, I fall into line behind him, he signals to go wide and I take off. Ryan's backed into a corner. He turns and see's us both heading for him. A plus to coming back after a kill shot is a weapon reload. He starts rapid firing off his stars, heading straight for me. I bounce back letting an arrow fly, as he doges to his left a Bo connects on his ride side and another arrow lands in his shoulder. A double take down equals a 10 minute cool down and Darin hits the floor laughing so hard he's having trouble breathing. Ryan grunts at me nodding back at Darin so I huck my last star and he lets it hit him.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" Darin chortles at Ryan.

"Yaa yaa, my gambit didn't pay off. Nelle wins, Darin's second, Anssia and myself are out." Ryan grumbles before walking away.

I blink and look at Darin. "Out, dose that mean he died five times too?"

"Yep" Darin rolls around he's laughing so hard he's started crying. I can't help but giggle, not because I won, but because Ryan lost.

I dash back into the house and race up the stairs. Open the door and see Lucas blinking at me. "I felt a disturbance, what happened?"

"Ryan lost in battle royal"

"Lost lost or?"

"Lost, lost." I hit the floor giggling much like Darin had been. Lucas joins in, for Ryan held the battle royal champ title the whole time I've know them. In chaos he rules supreme, but not today. I can't wait to tell the others all about that. Unfortunately, I'll forget all about it over the next three days.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I'm making supper when I hear Yvonna head for the bathroom. Only I hear her hit the floor and vomit before getting there so I shut the shove off and go to help her. She's next to useless after becoming sick. I am not surprised to see her on the floor shaking like a leaf, broken wrist held protectively to her chest. It's a relatively small pile to clean up, hearing her crying is a bit odd. Maybe it hurt because there is so little in her stomach. I go to help her up but she pushes me away. "Yvonna it's fine"

"Get away from me"

"Yvonna" She looks up at me and I cry out seeing her blood shot eyes. It has Lucas sprinting across the house. Ryan, he's out in the barn we have no way of warning him. She gets her legs under her only to fall over again. I move and she pushes me away again.

"I said get away from me you useless twat"

Lucas looks mad at this, but I don't listen, she's just scared right now. "Let me help you to the cage at least." I watch Lucas come to a grinding halt beside her. He bends over and lift the curtain of hair away from her face. He takes one look at her eyes and hits the floor hard beside her.

"No"

"I'll be fine" Yvonna lifts her self up again and before she can fall over we're both there, forcing our way to her side. Her legs are like jelly and it's slow but we don't say anything as she lets her angry frustrated tears out. She was the healthy us of all at through out this whole thing. How could a broken wrist be her undoing. "Don't let Ryan see till I'm lock away please." I let Lucas take over as I dart ahead thinking of what to say to get him away for a few seconds. I spot Darin first and lazier eye over to Ryan then feel my breath hitch looking at the cage. Will she be comfortable in there? From His spot he must be able to see them coming, for Darin throws me the keys and tackles Ryan. Who is understandably pissed about this, but the sound of a metal door slamming shut draws him up short of hitting Darin for it. I take off back out the double barn style doors, they will need some time alone for this. Lucas and Darin join me seconds latter as we head inside the house. Ryan will need to vent, we best stay out of his way.

I finish making supper and divide up the portions. I take two plates with me and sit them down beside Ryan, Yvonna refuses to look at me. He nods a thanks and I run back inside. It is a bit chilly outside tonight, so I go in search of extra blankets. Darin hands me one, Lucas an extra pillow from somewhere. I grab a change of clothes and do my best to stealth them in but spot Ryan looking at me. Yvonna sat hunched over, her dinner plate sits in front of her untouched and cold by now. Darin's head pops in, he fidgets with his sleeve for a moment before approaching Ryan with extreme caution. I spot the needle in his back pocket. This is too good an opportunity to pass up. An infected sample right from the start. I shuffle on my feet and see a shadow by the door, Lucas is waiting to see if he needs to help at all. I can't hear the hushed conversation but Yvonna sticks her arm out the cage for Darin even as Ryan gets cranky. The lack of physical action on his part tells me he's at least got enough of it together to understand how important this could be. Lucas's samples provided some much Intel about the infection, how much could Yvonna's provided? Darin scuttles over my way and starts his science things up. Quite as the grave, nobody's talking and I can't stand it. I make a break for the door. I never got along that well with Yvonna, but I never would have wished this on her. I stop in my tracks and burst into tears looking at Lucas. Sky won't get back to say anything before she turns. He takes a look around, nods at his brothers and give Yvonna an evil eye for not eating her supper. She sticks her tongue out at him before shoving food into her mouth, he then takes me inside. "Sky..." He dose a double step but nods, still forcing me to my room. We can't even call her, wait. "The state phone"

"Didn't work. I tried calling, nobody answered. Bishop and his men were out gathering resources and recusing people. They most likely died trying to save someone or turned themselves already. I waited for a call back but the battery died already"

"Lucas" we turn to see Darin staring at him. "Did you leave a message?"

"Yes"

"What time did you make the call?"

"A few weeks ago, around supper time"

"We need to charge that state phone, with limited charge times the correct thing to do would have been to turn the phone off and turn it back on one day later. Odds are good we have a message on our end. Where is it?"

"Eeerrr..." he shuffles his feet. "I tossed it by the patio stuff..."

"It's been exposed to the elements all this time!" Darin takes off back out the door. Were hot on his heels. "Minor damage, I maybe able to fix this." He takes back off to the barn and with nothing else to do we fallow him.

Ryan bellows as we come back in. "Can we not get any..." Darin ignores him, heading straight to his desk out here, grabbing both their attention. "What you got there?"

"He's going to try and fix the state phone and call Bishop, or check for a message" Lucas answers. Yvonna's ears perk up at this. "Maybe he can help, if he's still alive"

If he's still alive. That's how far we have sunk. If someone is still alive should not be so easy to say. I can't help Darin, Lucas is bad luck around electronics. So we tag team Yvonna, trying to get her into something fresh for the night. She growls at us, there's no point come morning it won't matter anymore. I leave the clothes in the corner while Lucas makes the bed. She at least crawls into it, pulling the blanket up. Back on the other side of the barn Darin has finished pulling it apart and curse's out Lucas, the battier is toast. Lucky for us he has something that may help. We wait and watch Darin pulling things apart, and make shifting a battier for that one potential life line. Then he sends us all to bed. It will need several hours to charge.

Ryan takes guard duty all night, refusing to leave Yvonna's side. Lucas paced for two hours, I finally half dragged him to bed. Darin and Anissa were already passed out in his room. So many rules being broken tonight. It's always two on guard shift, it's always two shifts over night, no ones suppose to be sleeping in the same rooms. Lucas is too wound up to care. Like Darin he wants to offer comfort to Ryan, but also want to give him the space we all know he wants. But what he wants is not necessarily what he needs. By letting him have his way with solo guard shift all night are we putting him in more danger? Lucas pokes me in the cheek. "Sleep now, worry later" I close my eyes but my thoughts chase each other around for another 20 or so minutes.

We wake to screams. Oh please don't tell us Yvonna is a screamer. She has great acoustics in that barn. I jolt up and am only a few steps behind Lucas, miss stepping as he by passes the stairs and heads straight for Darin's room. My heart is in my throat, please, not Darin too. That's Anissa I hear screaming. He burst through the door, fists ready, making Anissa scream again while falling out of bed. Darin's head pops up from the pillow, eyes only half focused. "How did you sleep through her screaming in your ears like that?" I can see his eye twitch and forehead scrunching up even as his lips sour.

Darin blinks and pulls an ear bud out."What? We were behaving"

"Holly sweet mother of..." Lucas bashes his head into the wall and Darin jumps up, but still looks dead tired to me.

"Darin" I help Anissa off the floor. "Anissa woke up screaming."

Darin pivots away from Lucas and almost falls over. Anissa waves it away. "It was just a bad dream, sorry for waking everyone up like that... almost everyone anyway." Darin looks a bit sheepish at this but helps her crawl back into bed.

"It's a learned survival skill after having Mathew's room beside mine all these years. He's often up in the middle of the night playing games or chatting with Sky. Never mind his years of learning to skate board, in his room at night"

Lucas blinks at this then laughs. "Oh yaa, that's right. I forgot you still sleep with the noise cancelling buds in to keep the sounds out."

"So Darin didn't turn, just looks like it?" Ryan steps in beside Lucas who jumps at his sudden appearance. At least Ryan smiles at the small victory. Finding Lucas off guard is a pass time of ours.

"I'm fine" Darin wraps a throw blanket around Anissa's shoulders

"Bad dream" Anissa shivers a bit inside it. "Even Ryan heard me outside, if I turn in the middle of the night I'm going to kill you with you even noticing it. You star fish did you know that?"

"So does Lucas" He glares at me for this. "Like corner to corner and flops like a fish outta water, sometimes he wakes up with his face at his foot board"

Ryan's face is going to crack in half if he keeps that smile to himself. Lucas is pouting at me. Anissa is going red in the face. She finally cracks and points at Darin. "So does Darin!"

"That's all on your side of the family" Ryan shakes his head walking away from us. "I'll make breakfast"

"Yvonna?"

"About two hours ago, I think she's a smart one. She's just sitting there looking at me. Makes no move to get out or anything."

"How bad is the transition?"

"Not bad at all, she went for a nap and when she woke up she wouldn't respond to me. She did however turn to look at the house through the barn wall. I came to investigate, and was part way back when I heard the screaming."

"She heard you, even out in the barn..." Darin blinks and looks more awake.

"I didn't think the human ear could pick sound up from that far away"

Darin opened his mouth without thinking about it again. "The key here is the question of isotropic of propagation. The speed of sound in an ideal gas goes as the square root of the temperature. Another way of saying this is that the refractive index for sound waves goes as the inverse square root of temperature. For example colder air has a higher refractive index. Such as at night, early morning and winter, it can be the case that the temperature close to the ground is colder than higher up - a temperature inversion. A sound wave travelling away from the ground will be bent back towards the ground by the decrease in refractive index with height. This, along with the fact it is generally quieter at these times, can enable you to hear at greater distant. Add in the fact that we don't have much around here to absorb the sound and the waves can travel for a longer distance." He blinks at the blank looks where all giving him. " ... no the human ear can't hear that far, but Anissa screams really loud and there is nothing around to stop the sound from traveling. So yes Yvonna could have picked up on the screams before Ryan did. The infected are working with more heighten senses."

"Oh, okay" Lucas waves us all to the kitchen. He's part way down the stairs when he notices Anissa is not with us.

"She sleeps half naked keep going." Darin's a little red at this but pushes past Ryan.

"Should we be separating you two?"

"No, it's fine. I remember the last warning vividly still. She also takes forever to get changed but couldn't stand being in their room last night anymore then Nelle likes being in her and Sky's room when she's gone"

"So she's been a bad influence on your sleeping wardrobe then" Lucas nods at him, shirtless again.

"No, it's just too hot otherwise. She kicks out body heat like it's going out of style. Notice how I don't need that loud heater whenever she's in the room?" Lucas stumbles thinking about it. "What's for breakfast today?"

"Cereal if Ryan's cooking" I jab at him, he gives me a look but doesn't say anything. Internally I'm panicking at this. He never gives up an opportunity to jab back. Lucas doesn't school his face fast enough and Darin is left blinking at him.

"I'm working as fast as I can Ryan." He nods at this and turns the stove top on. Now Darin is outwardly freaking out beside me. I can see it in the wide unblinking stare and harsh breathing. Lucas lets a hand drop onto Ryan's shoulder, they don't say anything but Ryan nods before shrugging the hand off. He's trying to stay busy to keep his mind off it. Anissa joins us after Ryan is done making pancakes. He takes a second plate out and none of us stop him. The infected never eat food so we are surprised when he comes back with an empty plate. Darin yanks Ryan's sleeve up to show bits marks up his arm. "Well that's one way to trick them into eating" Anissa whips an antibiotic cream out and hands it to him as he walks past.

I raise my eyebrow at her. "And how did you know he would be doing that?"

"Lucky guess" She answers and we all glare at her. "...Or maybe I gave him an idea... If she doesn't eat she'll die... Sorry" she slouches away from Lucas but smiles when Darin puts his arms around her.

"Your helping the only way you know how too, it's fine. So long as she doesn't take too big a chunk out and he rests afterwords it'll help for a while. If she is a smart one she'll figure it out soon enough." He drops his dishes in the sink and heads out to the barn. We fallow along to visit with Yvonna.

She's laying in the bed, staring at the barn roof. She sits up and looks at us. Darin approached despite Lucas's complaint. Yvonna stayed sitting in that bed, right up until Darin turned his back. Then she lunged at him fingers posed like dangers. Darin takes two large steps away from the cage and Yvonna's hand hit air. She snarls at him , fingers white knuckled grip on the bars. She huffs at us and goes back to her bed for the time being.

"Motor function is good. Reaction time a bit down"

"Less responsive. Yvonna? She recognizes her name still, so memory isn't totally shut down yet. She's still in there, but fading fast."

"It is her"

"Well yes, but the virus seems to take control of the mind. Add in the swelling, heat and non essential systems will be shut down, as her body try's to save the main parts first. So the flu equals the smart ones." Darin's head swings to look at Lucas. "Yvonna was tactical in her thought process, I shutter to think what you would have become under it's control." Oh that's a scary thought. "Common cold is the mindless masses then, everyone has a bit of that in there system most of the time. The third one that creates the crazy's is something I've never seen or heard about before"

"Let me guess you need a fresh sample from one?" Ryan, in my option, gives some of the best droll expressions ever. You can almost feel the irritation rolling off him while it's aimed at you.

This Darin does not caring about it anymore as he twists and walks away. "Yes, that would be best. But the crazy ones are rare around here, and without eyes on them I won't know how -fresh- any Joe smith we run across will be."

Yvonna jumps at the cage by my face making me scream out, she even gets that smirk on her face walking away from the warning glare from Lucas. "That was not necessary Yvonna! How rude after I came out to see how you are doing" She snarls at me before giving me the cold shoulder. "Yes I know you can't help it right now, I'm sorry." Lucas and Ryan look like they think's I've lost it. Darin shakes his head at me. "She's still in there right? I can still talk to her then. Did you ever think to grab samples off dead infected to see what happens to the virus after it's host is dead?" Darin's head snaps up and around to look at me in shock. "Yaa, I have a brain and know how to use it too!" Darin dashes to the side, yanks open a draw and forgets to close it before dashing out the barn double doors.

Lucas yells at me as he dashes after Darin. "Look out, now!" He glances back at Ryan but he waves him on. So off I take to the look out area. Knowing full well I'll be banished out to the roof top for the day.

... ... ...

So, I'm returning to the scene of the crime. Or rather to where I almost got caught and died on everyone. Anissa informed me after I could get a coherent thought together what I suffered from. Blunt force trauma from the teeth. Blood loss trauma from all the holes I gained from being chewed on. And apparently an uncommon amount of stupidity for rushing into that situation. She lays into you for not thinking about things first. She cared in her own way so I let it go. But I had been thinking, thinking that first dead guy would attract more things. I had been thinking that screamer would bring those same things a lot faster. I had been thinking the defenses might not hold up to that many infected. I had been thinking I could buy my family time and give them a fighting chance by taking a bunch out first. All my thinking did was get me into a lot of trouble. With everyone for very different reasons. Nelle still pouts at me, randomly crying if she gets a good look at my new scars still forming. My arm got the worst of it, I have four very different impressions of someones dental's on my arm and one mash up job. That's the one that almost did me in. Darin let me know it matches Gorges's own scars. Yay for us? Darin pops up beside me and I startle at this, prompting his current rant.

"You should have made Ryan come out this way. Clearly you'r not okay after what happened here"

"I'll be fine"

"Don't be obtuse on purpose. Your ghostly pale like Mathew was. Your eyes are too wide, your taking everything in but not seeing anything. Go back to the barn..."

"Going solo is what almost did me in, no way I'm leaving you out here. Going solo is what got Yvonna, really think Ryan would let me live that down? What about father?" It shuts him up for the time being. I let him do his thing while I take another look around me. Not much wind has come through here. I can still make out some of the struggles that happened. The way the ground was disturbed, forced aside with deep rushing steps. Ryan was landing hard on the balls of his feet, the indent is deepest there. Darin slipped over there, the dead grass and mud shoved to the side with the small slid . Mathew was flat footed by the screamer, foot pressure is fairly even. Crispin's are all jammed and jostled together, he was taking half steps trying to be everywhere at once. I fell over there... that's where Ryan put me back down out of harms imitate way... It's a dark brown spot with tons of little splatters around it, but it's not tree bark I'm looking at.

"Lucas" Darin is looking at me again, but with something too close to sorrow for comfort. "Family first. We can say sorry later."

"It never should have fallen on your shoulders to make such drastic moves in the first place."

"Family first" I nod, the rain will wash it all away and I can forget about it. "I got everything I need, we can go back now." He makes me lead the way back, part of me wants to know what's going through his head, another part is worried about the answer. "... We'd do it again if need be, just like you would and did." He points to the few I took out first. I can't wait for mother nature to finish this clean up.

We are a little shocked to find an infected wondering around inside the barricades thou and at once we worry for the others. If one got in, more may fallow. Something is off about this one thou

"Can you become partly infected?"

"Not that I'm aware of" Darin takes lead and I'm not happy about it, but he's got a point, he's in better condition right now. "Hello?"

He shifts around to look at us. Emotions flash across his face. He stumbles and rights himself. Opens and closes his mouth, like he can't remember the right words. He losses his cool with himself and his eyes flash blood shot before he calms down again. "Hello"

If Darin gets excited about this I'm calling for backup as loud as I can. "Who are you?"

"I am... I was? .. human... male... 20... New York island... friend and or foe?"

"Memory loss, have you recently hurt your head?" Darin points to his noggin for the guy

"No.. Yes?"

"Confusion, angry outburst. Calm down, we can help you"

The guy jumps at this, eyes wide with a smile at first. "Help! Need help, find help... this farm, help, yes help."

"This farm? Why this one?" Darin inches closer and I'm not happy with him.

"Sent here by... a friend..." He has a state phone on him that I point out to Darin.

"Bishop?" I try.

"C..."

Darin's interest in peeked "Chole?"

"Pretty Chole" He looks pleased with himself. "Hair changed, went out. Got caught. Army man helped. Sent here with this." He holds the state phone up for us. "Looking for ...someone smart"

Darin's left arm shot up into the air, his right points at himself with too large a smile on his face. "Oh me! Darin, were you sent here to find Darin?"

"Yes!" He looks excited again, his eyes flash blood shot and he rages for a bit. So long as we stay still and wait for some breathing exercises to calm him down he doesn't appear to be interested in killing us. "Friend or foe. I can't tell anymore" When Darin gets too close he backs up waving his arms around. "No! Not safe, I don't want to hurt anyone."

"It's okay, come with us. We have a safe place set up so you can't hurt anyone, a cage to keep everyone safe." Darin pleas for him to fallow us. We are both unsure of this, so I pull a sword out.

"I can and will use this to keep Darin safe, please don't make me use it. Chole is a friend of ours too"

"Lies" He backs up again. "But she sent me anyway"

"Okay" I try again. "Friend maybe too strong a word, we went to the same school. She was picked like Darin to help with the infected"

"Infected!" He jumps up, head swinging back and forth. Arms out wide to stave off an attack.

"Safe" Darin yells out, he calms down. Darin glares at me. "New York island. School friends. No foes here. Farm with friends. Remember?"

"Farm, friends, phone" He try's to hand it over again but backs up when Darin gets close again. "Was bitten, I don't want to hurt friends"

"Friends will be okay. Fallow Darin to safe place, leave phone on table" Darin try's again and the guy nods at this. "Brother keep safe" ... ooooohhhhhh, I'm being slow. Small, choppy words easy to understand. Long complicated words make new guy angry. Got yaa. Darin takes lead, half walking facing the guy. The guy fallows and I walk behind him, sword drawn like a crazy person. Once we get within eye sight of the farm house Nelle storms out weapons drawn but I wave at her to stand down, still she falls into line behind me. Extra eyes are welcome right now. Ryan is not happy with us.

"Who the hell is that?" Ryan pulls his Sai's out, Yvonna starts screaming incoherently at the new guy, who half responds but shakes it off. He screams right back at her. This seems to do the trick. I can see the mental gears going at hyper speed in Darin's head. They have a langues of sorts. At least some way of communicating with each other. I always figured the screamers made noise to bring others around. Apparently there was a method to their madness.

"Friend. Sent here. Chole. Friend. Help, help."

"It's okay" Nelle steps up, hands out, her voice goes up as she hmm's a lullaby. He calms and seems transfixed on her. "Friends. Chole sent you?"

I feel my eye twitch, how the heck did she figure that out faster then me? "Phone?"

He holds the state phone up. "Leave, table" He places it down. "Safe place?"

"Here" Darin opens the other cage door and steps back. "It'll hold. Can't hurt us now" He gets in, sits down as far from Yvonna as he can and watches us close the door again. Yvonna starts screaming at him, he chooses to ignore her. "What is she saying?"

"Run. This way. That way. Get out. Run. Eat. Find more. Eat"

"Great were fast food to them know. Really Yvonna, eat?" She gets screamed at for this.

"It's not for me, it's for you. Eat, Run. Find more."

"Are you trying to warn us? Even know?" Darin gets dangerously close to the cage and Yvonna dives at him screaming again. He supplies us with "Get away"

Holly shit she is trying to warn us. "Almost lost. Run. Eat. Run. Get away. Help. Find more." Ryan almost losses it.

"I'm trying Yvonna" Darin moves back and she goes back to sitting on the bed.

"Help. find more" The guy rubs at his eyes and Yvonna shuts up. She scoots across the floor with a protective arm in front of her, before screaming at him again.

"So what is Yvonna saying and what is he trying to say?" Darin backs up as his eyes flash blood shot again. "I need a sample from you" Darin holds a needle up. "Chole, school. Smart people. Find cure. Sample help"

"Hurry" He sticks his arm out the cage and Darin dashes forwards. "Find more. Find more. Must find more"

"Oh, he's a crazy isn't he?" Ryan backs up with us as Yvonna screams at us.

"Run, Run, Run"

"No can do sweetie" Ryan answers as the new guy bangs on his cell door.

"Sweetie. Hurt. No"

"Oh that's can't be good" Darin looks at me as Nelle hmm's a lullaby again. He focuses on her voice and I get a bad feeling about Yvonna's screams this time.

"Run. Friend. Run. Get away. Go. Run" He's getting louder and I slap a hand over Nelle's mouth to stop the humming. He focuses on Yvonna beside him and she shuts up again.

Ryan hisses at us "No new people, ever again"

"Fresh Joe blow sample" Darin hisses back at him.

"If he try's for Yvonna" Ryan gets up in Darin's face and the new guy laughs at him.

"Friend"

Darin jabs a needle into Ryan's arm, where the hell does he keep pulling these thing from? Then jets off to his equipment.

"Don't even say..."

"Friend" Darin looks at me, so I stick an arm out. Shit.

"Double time two more cages." Ryan looks at me. "Yvonna? Friend?" He points to himself, she nods yes. Then points at me next. Ryan sticks his arm inside the new guys cage and gets ignored. So I stick my arm in next getting the same result. Darin chokes at the sight before him. He approaches and they both focus their attention on him. When Nelle steps forwards they look at her too. I can almost breath again. There still okay.

"You may not turn" Darin steps back, arms shaking. "You didn't last time. Go eat and get some rest, now. I'll build the cages"

"You need.."

"To take more on then looking through a scoop. Get you asses inside, get a decent meal in, shoved some pills down your throats and get some rest. I can't watch my own back."

Nelle rolls her sleeves up. "Your better with the weapons then I am. I'll build the cages. I got this." Without needing any instructions she starts hauling things around, while Darin stands guard, helping her with the heavy stuff as need be.

We drag our self's into the kitcken. How do we eat knowing we may turn. How can I eat knowing they may need it more in... what days? weeks? hours? It might as well be acid going down. The food rations are not working. We have to gather a lot more then we have been. "Going up is harder then down" I point to the basement. Ryan agrees, grabbing a mattress to drag down while I struggle with the pillows and blankets. He ends up having to help me and I feel pretty useless right now. Of all the times for my arm to start hurting. Serves me right for holding a heavy weapon for a 45 minutes walk out in front of me. In my frustration to get the pill bottle open I end up breaking one. Again Ryan ends up helping me, I can't even grip things right now. How am I to fight if I can't even grip things?

"They'll be fine." I nod and shove the pills in my face before gulping without water. He had's me a glass with some in it and I hate him for it. They may need this more later on. "I was the dumb ass that let an infected chew on my arm. Anissa will hate herself if I become infected for suggesting it. I need someone around to let her know it's not her fault."

"Tell her yourself" Darin answers from the doorway and I go supper nova on him. "Nelle is fine. Yvonna started screaming again so I sent her to the look out. Just in time too. Guy lost his shit and started rampaging."

"So you left Yvonna there with him, alone?"

"She's a friend of his, she's in no danger"

"If he gets out of that cage he'll try and help his friend get out too." Darin blinks at me before whipping around and running for the door. Ryan is foaming at the mouth he's so mad. Not literally, but you can almost see it. Foaming at the mouth is bad, for anyone. period. I'm hot on their tail as they dash across the yard but pull up short when something metal snaps inside the barn. That guy is going to town in there. He's a crazy, we need to be careful. Then Yvonna starts screaming again and Ryan rushes in. I wish there was something hard to bash my head on right now, but instead force Darin back. Ryan's a friend in the making, maybe he'll be okay. Darin, clearly not infected even the slightest is in the most danger right now. So I yank him around and point him back to the house. In this regards somewhat friends will be safer. This could work out in my favor right now. A look and angry gesture later has him retreating to the house. I peek my head around the corner of the darns double doors and watch the new guy try and rip Yvonna's cage open while Ryan try's to pull him away. He's not being attacked so that's good, we can fight him this way without being a meal. He's also reduced to yelling and screaming, I can't make out what he's saying, but I have a feeling it runs along the lines of. Helping friend get out. Maybe it's not a spoken words per say, but more of a general understanding on a basic level. He turned fast, maybe what he was saying had nothing to do with Yvonna's screaming. Yvonna did react to Nelle's chatter with looks and body gestures, these are often better then words alone. I have to switch to a left hand grip to pick my sword back up. Then I have to try and make my way across the barn without anyone seeing me. Yvonna is staring at me like she knows but isn't saying anything. Ryan is reefing on the new guys arm. "Sorry friend" Yvonna starts screaming again but it's too late. He looks at me as I push the blade through his abdomen. Center mass is easy to hit, plus Ryan's too close to his head for anything else. He bellows out even as he lands on his knees. "Must protect family" Ryan jumps back, giving me space as I ready my new stance. Arms up high I look him in the eye one last time. "Sorry" I let the weight of it go and watch it drop down. His face contorts but he's not fast enough to stop me. It was clean, it was fast. I can at least tell Chole that.

"No new people that are about to turn" I couldn't agree more.

When Yvonna starts snarling at the doorway we both figure it's Darin there. She's screams at us but we ignore it, a feeling in the back of my mind tells me she wants me to get him already. I close that part down and head for the state phone he brought with him. It seems to be in good shape. Sure enough there is a message for us, from chole.

"Hey guys, I hope this found it's way to you in good heath. I have a new interesting friend here that goes by the name of bishop, he say's your still working on a cure." She snorts at this. "Somehow not surprised to hear your still fighting it. Anyway, if you somehow didn't figure it out already I had to give myself up so your parents wouldn't get caught at that mall, Bishop here got me out. You see I found an enzyme that seems to help slow the virus down, it's why I didn't turn after my eyes went blood shot. It doesn't stop the process, but delays it. By the time this reaches you I'll most likely be amongest the masses trying for your neck. Kandace has my enzyme and samples for days of how it affects the virus. I'm on my way there now, I suggest we meet up and share what we have before going separate ways again. smaller groups attract them less. I hope to see you one more time, if it's possible. Call the number, bishop will pick you up and we can work on this a bit more okay." We check the other state phone, a similar message is found. So we call and leave a message, and let Bishop know Darin is up for a round trip if it's still a thing.


	12. Chapter 12

Surprise surprise, Lucas listened to me. He turns in his sleep, I'm not sure how I know but I do. I didn't even have to check, I looked up from my scoop and knew it. Ryan shortly after was a bit odd. Mathew takes a whole day of being locked in there before he turns. Amillia shortly after him. We're dropping like may fly's. I know they waited till we got back, so they could be in the safety of the cages, but I didn't realize how far gone they were. It does explain Mathew and Ryan's unwillingness to get close to me or Anissa. Nelle turns when Kandace shows up a few days later. Kandace gets upset seeing Lucas in a cage and offers to move us all to the new location, she can have something nicer set up for everyone by the time we get there. But I can't do it. Moving them is dangerous. We need a way to keep everyone safe before I consider moving them. Dad never made it the new location, he turned on the way there and escaped. Thank god Lucas isn't able to understand that. Mom got out in the transfer after hearing dad turned. I have no idea how she will fare out there by her self but she was hell bent on something according to the footage. Thank god Ryan can't understand that. I'm not so sure about Mathew, he won't stop starring at Kandace as she explained it all to me. I suggest taking the compound back. It's the safest option.

"Together?" Anissa leans into me as Kandace jumps back up into the chopper.

"What?"

"Together, no matter what? I've watch Ryan and Mathew get eaten alive with guilt over Yvonna and Sky. Then again with Nelle and Crispin over Lucas and Amilia."

"I can't make that kind of promise..."

"Please" I keep the sigh to my self, she needs something to cling too.

"Together then." At first I was little annoyed with this, but after a few days I find myself answering the call. Then I end up looking and waiting for it. I kinda understand the always comment now. Some days pass without a word shared otherwise. Some days we get excited because the virus starts to be beaten back, only to take over when we're not looking. Kandace keeps her weekly visits up, letting me know what's going on on her end. Lucas keeps a close eye on her whenever she visits with him. She gave herself a second dose of enzyme but it didn't help at all. I tried retesting things I already dismissed. Nothing new seems to be working. Crispin turned on his guard duty and wondered away on us last night, Kandace is insisting on bringing us all to the new place but again I decline. "Not until you have a safe way for everyone to travel." The sat phone won't last much longer, she'll need to bring a new one with her next time.

Her voice crackles a little on us, signalling the end of the conversation. "I'm working on that, building a comfy cage for every individual person is hard you know"

"Somehow I don't think they will care, how complex are you making these cages?"

"It's not that, it's the fact that I'm surrounded by scientist and military men, not builders that's slowing us down. I thought we had a good one finally set up, right up until we put a crazy in it to test the strength and I almost got run over in his stampede out."

"Sounds like your not reinforcing the connections properly. On your next visit see if Bishop will let you bring one, maybe I can figure out where you'r going wrong."

"Maybe?" She cackles at this. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. How is everyone doing?"

"Nothing new to report. They sit there staring at each other." I shiver thinking about it, in my last trip they looked at me, but didn't scream or anything. "I'm running out of time Kandace, we gotta figure something out faster."

"Your fine Darin"

"No, Yvonna's stop screaming at me, the others no longer react to my arm between the bars."

"Oh." Maybe she understands now. "Then we need to make this move a priority for her safety." I look over at Anissa sleeping at the moment. Zoning out on Kandace thinking about our last food run. We both got bite. "Darin?"

"Oh sorry, just thinking. It would have been a smart move to stay at the compound. There's still a ton of food there right?"

"Yaa but Bishop looks at me like I'm stupid whenever I suggest taking it back."

"Bring some plans, maybe I can help with that too."

She cuts out for a moment so I only get that last half of her idea. "...It has some merit, but your helping in too many places at once, that's why I keep saying come live with us for a bit. Anyway my clock says less then 2 so I should hang up and get back to work. Take care of everyone for me, and tell Anissa to take care of you for me too."

"Deal, just remember to take care of your self and tell Bishop to keep a closer on you for me"

"Oh yaa" she laughs at this. "He just loves taking orders from us anyway..." It's all static and I know that's it for the next few days. I would love to wait a few days, but we don't have that kind of time. It's going to be risky, but we need to head back into town one last time. There's got to be something left we missed. Anything at this point in time would be good. She stirs to my left as I look over my map again.

"There's nothing left there Darin." She rubs sleep out of her eyes sitting up, stomach complaining. "We have combed the place over three times. We gotta find another town, a farm maybe?"

We combed over all of those months ago and found nothing. "We can give everyone a good nights sleep and the last of the liquid diet drip then head out for a two day trip. Hopefully there okay when we get back."

"Mac hasn't bothered this farm in over a month, why would he come back now?"

"Maybe Crispin found his way there and alerted him to our problem."

"Or he's..." she can't even finish her own thought, but I know what she means. The only reason everyone else is still alive is because we have been feeding them while they sleep. Sure they lost a lot of weight, liquid diet only gets so you far. But at least their body has something to work with, Crispin has no such safety net out there, he was already hungry when he left. How long he could survive in his state without medical aid is unknown. "Together?"

"Together" I have the sinking feeling she knows that I'm going to break the promise. "Let's set them up for the night, we can cover some good ground while most are sleep."

She nods getting up, skipping past the kitchen cuz we both know it's empty. She side steps the trip wires and traps that would alert us to intruders, ducking low to avoid the purposely placed beam. I was kinda hopping someone would come running around this corner and face plant into it. I pause tilting my head, arm reaching out but she's already stopped too. Like ninja we step deeper into the shadows when the sounds reaches us again. Nothing has moved around here in a while, I was starting to think most humans had been whipped out.

"Hello?" I startle up straight at the sound of a child calling out into the darkness. "Hello?" How could she have survived for so long? Someone would have been looking out for her surely? I can't sense a trap being set up yet I am reluctant to announce our presence. Anissa takes a step forwards calling out for me.

"Hello?" The little girl gasp and starts crying.

"Safe?"

Anissa takes lead again. I almost feel like dying see a mere child in front of us, she can't be 5. There's no way she made it this far on her own. She's covered in scraps and scratches. She has been alone for a bit, she doesn't look like she's eaten in a long time. Her little summer dress hangs all wrong with sticks for limbs and a pot belly sticking out screams malnourished. She takes a step back seeing me but Anissa puts her hands out showing we mean no harm. "It's okay sweetie, it's safe, I'm going to walk over now okay." The little girl pulls her hands into her self and nods at this. She talks as she slowly walks over. "Where is your mommy and daddy?"

"Turned"

"Is there anyone else with you?" Children as a general rule don't lie. Well not in the sense that they mean to deceive us, it's just that they see the world so different from us. She shakes her head no and Anissa pauses taking a glance outside. "It's okay if there's anyone else with you, it's safe for them too" the little girl starts crying and points behind us. I pivot drawing my Bo even as some guy runs around the corner and smacks face first into the beam. I can't help but giggle at this. It's as funny to watch as I hoped it would be. The little girl starts crying looking out the window and I see a bunch of infected standing in front of our window. "Shit" Yaa, that about covers it. We know they can't get past our outer defenses so someone let them in.

The little girl wails at out. "They never leave me alone!"

"Hunny, Do you have any idea how long you have been on your own?"

"Never alone" She wipes at the tears on her face. "They fallow me."

My eye goes up at this. "Are your parents in there?"

"No" she shakes her head and points behind us again, that guy, who is an infected is standing back up.

"Okay sweetie, cover your eyes okay. I'll make the scary infected go away." She slams those little eyes closed and covers her ears as more tears stream down her little face. Her cheeks aren't even chubby anymore. She's scary close to dying from a lack of food. I push the infected outside and head to the barn making lots of noise as I go, they fallow like good little mindless wanna-be zombies. From there I shuffle them into a larger container. Kandace better be happy I grabbed more samples for her, even if that wasn't my intended purpose tonight. Next I swing out to the front gates and realize the little girl must have opened them, unintentional letting them in. It's cracked open large enough for one small, half starved child to slip through. Kids are notorious for not closing doors behind them. I bet the infected fallowed their noses after that. I shut the gate and head back to the house. Where Anissa has the little girl calmed down and working on cleaning her scraps as best as she can.

"Sorry if this stings a little, but it will make the ouchies go away faster I promise."

"Silly" I pat the girl on the head as I walk by. "You left the gate open and they fallowed you inside"

"Sorry" She curls in a bit looking embarrassed with flushed cheeks.

"It's okay, it happens some times. My names Darin, what's yours?"

"Hailee"

"Well Hailee I chased off all the infected. That's the good news. The bad news is we don't have anything to eat. When was the last time you ate?"

"Ummm, a long time ago."

Anissa gives me a side glance. "Hailee, my name is Anissa, my dad is a doctor so I know a few things. Darin is supper smart and working on a cure. Do you know what a cure is?" She shakes her little head no. "It means he is trying to make all the infected people better. But to do that he needs samples from everyone he runs across. I know needles sound scary but would you mind if Darin took a sample, I promise it's one little pinch and then it will be all over?" She shrinks a little at this but nods yes. "Maybe you can help him come up with a cure, wouldn't that be cool?" She seems to like this idea. Children are often happy to help, it makes them feel important.

"Okay Hailee. I'm going out to the barn, I'll be right back but don't worry Anissa will keep you safe okay." She nods and once again I'm running across the yard and back into the barn. I retrieve one of my last clean needles and head back inside. Anissa is telling Hailee a story, it's adorable so I stay in the shadows till she's done. She's good with kids, Hailee has calmed right down. First flight to a secure compound, she's on it. Poor thing must be traumatized. "Hey Hailee" I announce myself ducking low for the beam. I rip the package open so she knows it's clean, thou she may not understand why that's important. "After this why don't we see if we can get you cleaned up and into something less full of holes, how does that sound?"

"Ice cream?" She looks to the kitchen.

"Sorry Hailee, we don't have any ice cream. We were about to go looking for some food, I can call a friend in early and have them take you to a nice safe location with lots of food in it." Dear lord why did I tell her that? She looks excited by this and I can't grantee anything about there being food with Kandace and company. Anissa is pouting at me, thinking I got her hopes up for nothing. "One little pinch okay" I hand the needle over to Anissa and offer up my hand to hold. "Just breath, it'll be all over real soon okay." She was looking at me, then turns to watch the needle.

"This is going to feel funny but it will help me okay." Anissa takes some rope and ties it around Hailee's upper arm.

"Pretty lady" Hailee smiles and I watch Anissa melt at this.

"Hear that, she think's I'm pretty"

Hailee pouts at me. "Call her a pretty lady"

"Yes ma'ma" I can't help but smile with them. "Anissa is a very pretty lady. Your right Hailee, I should complement her more often." She winces as the needle goes in, a few tears getting out but she's one brave little girl.

"All done" Anissa hands the tiny sample over, I was worried I would take too much. I certainly would have tried for more, but this will have to do. "Okay, why don't we leave Darin to play with his science toys and I'll help get you all cleaned up and find something for you to wear?"

"I'm hungry"

"We know honey, we're hungry too. That's why we were going to go look for food."

"I'll come too!"

"Oh, that could be dangerous with more scary infected fallowing us around."

"That's okay they don't bother me" I pause part way out the door with this. All those scratches on her, they could have been from humans, they could have been from falling or a tumble too. It's too dark for me to know for sure, so I leave Anissa with Hailee and I make a mad dash out to my science toys. I can't get this sample under the scoop fast enough. She has a ton of red blood cells working over time. They make fast work of the infected strain I tried slipping in there. Could she... My hops are dashed with the third sample of virus, it quickly takes over. This means she has antibodies to two of the strains but not the third. So close, still this give me something new to work with. It also means I need to call Kandace, like right now. As the centrifuge starts up I hit call, leaving a request for some expeditious help for the small child. We can't keep her alive for long in her state. I set the computer up to run and do it's thing before dashing back inside. Anissa has Hailee in the girls room, picking something from Sky's collection.

"Where is everyone?" Hailee takes note of all the boxes and difference sizes.

"They turned too" Anissa answers. "But it's okay, Sky won't mind" It's too big on her, but Anissa is about to pull some magic with a needle and threat.. "I'll make a few adjustments so you don't drown in this and then we can meet Darin back up in the living room how does that sound."

"Okay" I nod backing out the door, then run upstairs to my room. Where's that box. Shoved all the way into the back of my closet with caked on dust. I grab the teddy bear and start beating it agents the desk edge trying to clean it off. Waves of dust keep puffing up making it hard to breath. So I'm left banging the bear in one hand and using the other to try and clear the air. Finally I grab a few of the smaller toys and spot the astrology book discarded on the floor. I wonder if Hailee thinks the stars are interesting. "Hailee, guess what I found?" Her dainty fingers grip the edge of the couch, little face peeking over the top edge. I sneak up part way there making her giggle before popping the teddy bear out. "He's a little dust and in need of some tlc, but if you like him..." I wave my offering out in front of me worried she may not like teddy bears. She attempts to launch off from the back of the couch screaming in childish delight reaching for it.

"Mine?" she crushes the bear to her chest and I sigh in re leave.

"Yes Hailee you can have the teddy bear, he needs a name, what should we call him?"

I'm expecting mr. teddy bear, she surprises me with. "Arthur." Loud and proud with this she crushes him to her chest again and flops down beside Anissa once more and in love with the old thing.

"Arthur is in need of a deep cleaning" Anissa smirks at me.

"Arthur was stuck in a corner for years and years, give him a break. I also found this" I pull the book out and watch Anissa giggle. "It's a map of the stars." I settle in and let Anissa work her magic. Soon enough Hailee is asleep so I tuck her in with a blanket and head out. "I'll check and be right back, maybe we left something un-turned." Hailee needs to eat, like in a few hours, not a few days from now. The last thing I want to do is leave them alone, the second last thing I want to do is head back into that town. But I got no other choose. I may be wasting time but may be Gorge left me something. I don't normally pull the car out, but for this I will make an exception. A double check shows I got half a tank, should be enough to get me all the way there, if I can even find some more gas. The roads show a few infected as I zip past them, but nothing to worry about. Clear summer sky with tons of stars out means I don't even need my lights, still for the main part of this I keep them on. It's only after I get close to the city that I shut them down. Nothing moves in the small town, so I try the gas station first. Finding a small amount but nothing to be happy about. I tap on a few cars and find a bit more, I doubt this will get me back to the farm, but hey I cut this time in half, easily. The big tree on the corner marks my favorite house to visit. Gorge was great at stashing things away, but an hour later I flop over feeling dizzy. Never mind Hailee, I need food right away. I lightly bash my head backwards in frustration only to hear a holly thump. I pause and snap my head back again. Yep, that was hallow sounding. I whip around, place an ear to the wall and start tapping. Did he hid something in the walls? tap, tap, tap. It takes a few minutes but I find a non hallow sounding part. In my excitement I do more damage breaking it open then I intended. Sure enough there's a stash in here as well. Suddenly I'm running around tapping on walls and doors, finding tons of non hallow spots. Now I'm stupid levels of paranoid as I start rounding up what I can. God knows who's out there watching, do I leave some encase or take it all? What if I take it all and someone grabs it off me. Then again leaving any behind has the same potential problem with holes in a bunch of walls. I decide to take it all. I'm half way out the door when something grabs my eye. I back up into the house and spot the guy creepy around my car. Unless he knows how to jump start it I should be okay. Then I dash out in excitement. "Gorge!"

"Darin?" He snaps around and jumps up in joy with me. Colliding in the middle we almost go over. "Oh thank gods your still alive, I was worried with how the farm looked."

I pause, the farm has taken some damage but it wasn't that bad. "Yaa, we ran a-foul some bad guys and lost it for a bit, had to take it back by force."

"Explains the bullet holes."

"You my good man, are a bloody genius, hiding food in the walls like that"

"Thank my mom for that, she went a little happy with the dooms day prepping after she found out. I was hoping no one else would discover that before you guys could, I'm surprised it took you this long to need it."

"Oh I've needed it for a while but I never thought to check inside the walls. Was anyone else in town like that?"

"Not that I'm aware of but it's always worth a look." He fallows me back inside and see's the stash. "She had way more then that around here." He grabs the hammer I was using and takes me down to the basement. Where I find a gold stash of food. "She prepped for one year in supplies and stashed it all over this house, I don't even know what all she hid or where she hid it. But this is a great find. How many still standing?"

"Just Anissa and me. A little girl by the name of Hailee popped in a few hours ago..." I'm going sideways as Gorge yanks me in closer.

"Was she wearing a torn sundress, about yee high with dark hair?"

"Yaa why?" my brain freezes on this, did I make a mistake leaving Anissa there with the child? Where we fooled by the tiny size into a false sense of security?

"Infected fallow her wherever she goes, never hurting her, but never letting anyone close to her."

"She has antibodies on two types of the virus, the third does her in. She's half stared to death and crying. So we took her in, for a moment there I thought you were going to say she helps the bad guys."

"No, she freaked on us and fled, I was worried but couldn't find her in the woods."

"She's back at the farm with Anissa, lets go." He looks eager to help again, grabbing a bunch of food hastily shoved in bags we make a few dashes in and out carting our goods. I turn the car on and he points out to the west of us, explaining the others are out that we, we should pick them up too. I hesitate. West is the bad guys way. "No man, their outside of town." Okay, still I feel the creep make it's way up my spin. Trap, it's a trap.

"Gorge." I stop a block over. "Who else is over that way and why don't you just ask me for help?"

He deflates at this. "Hailee works for the bad guys. She went missing on my watch, I have to come back with something."

"Not me you don't"

"What no! I was hoping you would open a can of whoop ass on them while I found mom and the others."

"Mac knows who I am, I can't go out that way."

"Shit. Okay back to the farm, I'll figure something else out then."

"Hailee said her parents turned, she was also really badly taken care of..."

"Mac is... not a good guy. I don't think he ever hurt her, but he certainly never took care of her. Around that camp it's every man for himself. A smile child has no place in that world. She often hid with me and Lily, some of those older men, they way they would look at her... She often had father like figure around her as well."

"Not what I would call safe, but I guess it's better then nothing." I pull up to the farm house and see the gate is open again.

"She is really bad for leaving gates open." Gorge shakes his head at this getting out of the car before I can say otherwise

"But I'm not. Get back in Gorge. I was the last to leave and I didn't leave it like that."

"I'll go wide then." He takes off into the bushes and I'm left shaking my head. I get out to close the gate and pretend to get my Bo from the back seat. Way over doing the safety look out before dashing out to close the gate, shutting the lock on it again. Someone with half a brain opened this gate. I dash back in and way over do the check again. I watched Gorge take off into the woods. But part of the reason I got out was to take a bag out with me. There's a lose board on one side if you know about it with a hidden dug out hole under it. I remember Lucas pulling the board up shortly after we got here and digging it out. Only our family knows about it. The hole was empty, but now it holds four bags of food. I wanted to shove more in but this way if Gorge or someone else takes off with the car. Well at least we will have something and they are unlikely to be any wiser till it's too late. I make a slow approach and take the car around to the barn. Tossing a few more bags in with Lucas. He looks at them and me and sits down looking across from me. Great, someone is in here with me.

"Darin?" I look back to see Hailee behind me.

"Hailee" I wave her over but she shakes her head no. "It's okay, how many came while I was gone?"

"Four"

"Anissa?"

"Woods"

"It's okay Hailee. Is it true that the infected don't attack you?"

"Yes"

"Okay, when I go inside the house I want you to join Lucas in here alright? He'll keep you safe"

"Okay"

"If you have to make your way to the center of the cages. I reinforced these to take a lot of damage. I'll take care of the problem and go find Anissa alright so don't worry about a thing."

"Okay" I double check my fridge, look under the scoop and startle. "Hailee, your really special. So I want to help you stay safe." I toss the sat phone in with her. "After I'm gone I want you to call the number on there okay. Just push power and hit call okay. Ask for Bishop and say code endjob okay, he will understand and come as fast as he can. If he doesn't answer just leave a message, can you do that for me?"

"Yep"

"That's my brave little girl. I'll try to take care of this really fast okay."

"Okay"

I walk out, pick a bunch of the bags up and walk back to the house as if I know nothing. I enter muttering about changing that gate lock and sneak past the living room as if I can't tell the lumps on the couch are not Anissa and Hailee. I am too tired and hungry for this. I dump my bags on the counter and head for the back door. A trip wire was set off and someone bleed on the floor. Awww! I missed someone face planting into the beam. I'm busy looking down but hear him try and sneak up on my from behind. So I pretend to scratch the back of my neck muttering about stupid people. I twist, draw and swing at the same time. Batter up. I connect with a dirty face and he goes down hard with a crash. He's out for the count so I hog tie him before heading out the back door. I locked the front so to get in you will have to break that door down, lol, or go through the window. I suppose they could burn it all down but that seems excessive. Oh, that door has a steal core in it. No way your breaking it down with your foot, maybe not even a car. Out in the open I let my eyes adjust to the darkness before leaving the safety of the shadows, only long enough to dash to the tree, then the barn. From there I spot Hailee in with Lucas. Ryan is glaring at the other end of the barn and I know where the next guy is at. She crawls closer to Nelle who takes up a protective stance with Lucas. "Keep her safe okay guys." I throw a few more bags inside my dig out hide-y hole as I walk across the barn. A little bold of me but it works. the inside is so dark, if you don't know the layout you'd never make it from one side to the other. The guy isn't even paying attention... he's sleeping on the job? I almost feel sorry till I notice he's already been knocked out and hog tied up. Aaa, probably Gorge then. I drag him inside and tie him outside of Yvonna's reach. She's not happy with me, pouting and everything but I give her a look, then hiss out my shh's when Mathew gets uppity about something. Anissa throws herself to the barn wall and sinks down low.

"Together?" I ask, her head snaps up and I hear her suck in air.

"Together" She double checks out her door and dashes towards me, skidding to a stop once more by my side. "Simply sophomoric, just what is even the point anymore? They never win long term."

"Drowning men dear"

"Don't dear me."

"Yes ma'ma" She snorts but lets it go "We got two, I was told four?"

"I got one tied up in the woods, but I'm having trouble finding the fourth one."

"I found Gorge. I think he got suckered into helping the wrong people. Hailee went missing on his watch."

"Is Gorge okay?" Hailee appears inside Yvonna's cage, she doesn't look impressed with this but stands guard over the little girl.

"Who was with Gorge back at Mac's?"

She starts crying and Yvonna looks irritated with me over this, thou she seems unsure how to help the girl. "Lily and gram-ma was taken. Gram-pa never came back. Gorge told to do something wrong. He didn't want too but..."

"They had Lily and gram-ma, it's okay I understand. Is that why you ran away then?" She nods her head a bunch and I point to the bags. "Eat something okay Hailee. I have one more bad man to find..."

"No you don't" Gorge walks in with another guy. "Hailee!" He dashes forwards seeing her inside the cages.

"You just had to ask man." I sigh as he looks sheepish at least.

"How do I ask that kind of favor? Mac wants your head on a platter. He wants Anissa in one piece but broken already."

"I called Bishop, he answered!" Hailee pips up with can in her hands, she goes to bash it into the ground and I stick my arm in to stop her without thinking about it.

"Oh Darin" Gorge hits the ground hard in front of me. My arm still inside the cage and Yvonna ignoring me.

"Yaa, I know." I take the can from her and use The naginta's blade to crack it open. "Did Bishop say if he was on his way?" I hand the can over and she nods her head yes shoving her little hand into the can of beans before stuffing it in her face. She looks dejected with the taste at first but keeps eating. "I think I saw some chef in one of the bags."

"Nice scattering the food around too" Gorge smirks at me. "If they saw the stuff inside these cages. They won't hesitate to opening fire on them to get at the food." I never even thought of that. "Thou Mac is running out of bullets he still has a few to get a few jobs done first. So what's the plan of attack now?"

I look around us, then head for the far mini fridge and pull a bottle out making him laugh at me. "...Now we tell Mac off."

Bishop is pissed with me. "You want to do what? That call was for emergency's only. I dropped everything and everyone to come out here and why hello you sweet little girl. You must be Hailee." Hailee pops her head in at the best of times.

"Yaa, that's part of the reason why. The other is to get Lisa and Mrs. Jordan out. After this we can move with you to the new location and help out there."

Hailee jumps up into his lap and calls out for the pony ride. Bishop seems to know what this is and starts bouncing her on his knee, she's delighted and giggling in no time. Tough army man's face is about to split in two he's trying to hide his grin so hard. "Okay fine. I'll help you with this crazy plan, then we're getting everyone out of here. I'll tell Kandace to send her cages over along with some back up fire power. I doubt we will have much if any time after an attack to make our get away so make sure everything is already packed up first. It will take a day to get everything set up anyway."

"Gorge already covered our home made explosives. We're packed up and ready to go." Bishop stops bouncing Hailee long enough to look up at me. "We are ready to go when ever you are."

"Oh. Proficient as always."

Anissa shouts out from the kitchen "Lunch is ready"

"I see you found someone's stash."

"Yaa. Mrs. Jordan's. It was hidden inside the walls and doors."

"Cleaver of her. Okay, so what are your plans for the next 8-10 hours it will take back up to arrive?"

"Plan. Make strategies. Rest." I sit down as Anissa hands out the meals to everyone.

"Yuck" Hailee pulls a face at our stir fry.

"Have no fear honey..." Anissa pulls out a smaller plate with toast and pears placing it down with a flourish much to Hailee's delight. "Brown sugar and cinnamon. One of my favorites as a child. Normally done with eggs but we don't have any of those, so caned pears it is."

"Don't spoil her already dear" I laugh at us. "Or you'll be making two meals for the rest of her life."

"That is a sacrifice I am willing to make dear."

I jolt at this, head snapping up to look at her then over at Hailee, turning my fork around I point it at Hailee, even as she giggles at me not keeping a straight face. "Spoiled rotten, I was told I was s.o.l if I didn't like my meal cuz she wasn't making two of them." Hailee grins like she knows something I don't before comping down on her toast.

"Kids" Bishop shoves a fork full into his mouth. "This is really good Anissa"

"Thank you" She grins at him, then pouts at me with my fork full half way to my mouth. I pause, eyes darting between the three of them.

"Yes very tasty as always." I haven't even had my first bite yet but it does the trick and all is right in the world once more.

"At least he knows what his brain is for." Bishop digs in making them laugh at me, I'll take the jib without any true complaint. Everyone is having a good time. A little forced but it's for Hailee's well being.

"Yaa sometimes I remember what it's good for."

A light atmosphere takes over. Silly chit chatter, not my strong point, fills the kitchen as we eat. Soon we send Hailee off to play outside, but to stay in the front yard where we can see her. Bishop takes up post right by the main window. listening to us but keeping an eye on the young girl. It's amazing that she's made it this far as healthy as she is. The odds were definitely stacked agents her. Yet here she stands jumping and playing with Arthur in the front yard. While we talk war tactics inside, 5 feet from her. I debate pulling out the new swing and setting it up for her but we will be leaving the farm tonight so there is no real point. We can't take her with us on the raid so she will have to stay here and stay hidden.

"Kids" Bishop watches her play tea party with a strange armament of baby toys and thin air. "Are truly amazing. She is bouncing back from her trauma's better then war harden men with full training."

"I think it's the lack of training that does it." I nod watching her myself. She presents something to them on a plate, so probably biscuits, of course it could be cake or cookies too. "They simply don't understand the severity of the situation so they can push past it. So long as the adults don't panic she has no reason to think that it's that bad."

"It's both healthy and unhealthy." Anissa sits down beside me, we watch for another moment as she curtsies about something before dancing with Arthur. "Is she bouncing back or is her brain choosing to forget it, pushing it all under the rug. This is alright for right now, so long as she gets taken care of she'll be fine. If it gets any worse this could prove to be a fatal error latter on in life should the memories resurface. Something could trigger it and have all this come crashing back down on her head. PTSD could still happen, her little brain is only doing whatever it can to make her life a little better right now. Something as simple and normal as breakfast with mom and dad's half felt argument can make all the difference, so long as she wins." She grins at me and I didn't even think about it like that. All thought way too young we basically, without concussions thought, have taken the young girl under our wings. That makes us her protectors and providers, aka parents. I thought I would panic with that train of thought, but I am calm, almost unfazed by it. "Your doing great dear."

"Together." I hug her in tight watching Hailee play, she stops what she is doing to look back behind the house before screaming and running towards the door. We're out of our seats and racing each other to be the first to her. I yank the door open, Hailee jumps into Anissa's arms as Bishop jumps out the door gun out and looking for trouble. "What's wrong Hailee?"

"Screamer"

"From the barn?" she shakes her head no and points to the back of the house.

"Infected shouldn't be able to get past our defenses without aid." I look at Bishop before glancing at the woman. "Take Hailee to the basement, we'll check it out." It's probably just Yvonna but to be safe I need them far away from this

"I should be going up, not backing myself into a corner." I twitch at this, right, they can go down the stairs but not up them.

"Bullets can't go through concrete as easily as plaster and wood." Bishop corrects her. "You can fight off what gets down till we get back, you can't stop the other things."

"Down it is." Anissa scoops Hailee up and runs towards the basement, Hailee cry's about Arthur but it's too late. I can see more creeping down the road. "Those are not infected." I nod towards the men as Bishop agrees with me. "I wounder if Yvonna smelt them and is trying to warn us."

"Unlikely" Bishop glances over his should at me, yes I know I'm being sentimental. "I would suggest using them to scare the men away but I believe they have guns so lets not."

"I would rather not find bullet holes in my family if at all possible."

"Wheres a sniper when you need them"

"On their way by now I hope"

"Where's Gorge?"

"...I don't know"

"He didn't turn on us did he?"

"No I gave him a shot of the enzyme."

"No, as in turncoat?"

"With his family in dangers way anything is possible, but he seemed confident in our plan when he left last night to stall Mac and company. Thou from what I hear I wouldn't put it past Mac to torture the info out of him."

"Or just kill him." Bishop watches the men stumble down the dirt road, one drops to his knees and vomits before going over sideways, his buddies scramble away from him. They just leave him there to fend for himself. "Even the dumbest of brutes would have figured out by now that vomiting can mean turning. At least they didn't put a bullet in his brain for getting sick."

"Others have done that? Getting sick doesn't mean the end for everyone, enzyme or not."

"Oh yaa, I found one little group of people that sneezing could equal a bullet to the brain. Got right testy with them for aiming a gun at my medics head for that. She has bad allergies." I nod and make a mental note. The medic that was working with Anissa sounded like a man to me, looked like one too but everyone looks similar with swat body armor on. Maybe it was a girl this whole time and I was being a doush without realizing it. "No you haven't meet her. I normally only bring men with me because people like Mac are out there, and after she got yanked on me twice I stopped bringing the woman. For fear of their safety, not a lack of trust in their skills."

"That's why I sent Anissa to the basement with Hailee. This keeps the woman out of harms way. The child is more likely to be soothed by a female presence and I can focus on kicking ass knowing there both as safe as their gonna get right now. I have faith in Anissa's skills and darker side to keep them safe till backup arrives in the event we don't make it out of here still breathing." I watch another guy fall out of a tree he was trying to climb and re-asses our odds, at this rate they will take care of themselves for us. "Should I head out back and circle around, take their snipers out?"

"No, I wouldn't put it past them to just be getting out of an infected swarm heading our way. Mac has used infected before this way right?"

"Yep, he sets them free on uncooperative people, his men always pay a price but it seems to be working for them. Lots of people join him simple to make him stop the attack."

"Hey Darin..." I snap my eyes over to him then back to the road. "Did you every think to analyze the vomit? It sounds gross but I was wondering if maybe a key is hidden in it at all?" He looks at me to see my mouth hanging open.

"I never even thought of that." Damn, we've been cleaning up and dis-guarding it. The body rejected something, violently so. Or was it the virus trying to get rid of something to finish taking over?

"Glade I could be useful around here after all."

"The amount of times you've saved our asses proved that many times over." He opens his mouth, closes it and nods with a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Alright, go wide, I'll hold the fort down till you get back and Darin... be safe out there man."

"Yes sir" I jump thru the trip wires, dodge the traps and duck for the beam. Crack that back door open, scan the area and make a mad dash across the yard. Once in the barn I find everyone is looking at me as I slid down the wall unable to breath. "Not a word from you buddy." I glare at Lucas looking down on me as Ryan snarls at the barn walls, scratching at something getting closer to me. So I jump up and dodge over to my stuff before tucking into a small covered corner. The poor guy walks right around the corner and into Mathew's reach trying to stealth his way around. He freaks out as Mathew starts dragging him closer. Another step and Ryan will be able to reach him too. A part of me whats him to die but a bigger part say's I shouldn't let my brothers be cannabises, even if they don't realize it. The guy does both of us a favor and puts a bullet in his own brain, he hits the floor dead and I wonder why he didn't turn the gun on my family. So once more back across the barn I drag the guy away from my family, much to their dis-test and check his gun out. Only one bullet. I'm confused, why send men in that only have one bullet? Then I see red as I realize they are the cannon fodder. Disposable to him. Their the scouts, if we can take them out he may think Gorge's cover story of the farm being over run as true. I could be saving us a lot of trouble. I look at my family and smile. Infected can't get in without help, I bet they won't be able to get out without it as well. This is dangerous. A deviation of the plan but we need more time and killing everyone won't help us, they would send more. I yank my trank gun and a few rounds out of their case before opening Lucas's cage open. He looks at me and Yvonna get's excited by this. She starts screaming at the top of her lungs and I have to tackle Lucas to get a rope around his ankle before setting him free. Next up is Yvonna. I have them tied to a post so as to release them all at once as I debate how to tie Ryan up. He's banging on the wall again so I open his cage and pull the rope to let the others loss. Yvonna sniffs the air and starts screaming again, Lucas and Ryan take off out the door. I hear a bunch of freaking out screams from the other side. I duck my head out the side and watch the other guys running for their lives. Ryan appears to be faster then one of them. He goes down and after a moment another gun shot is sounded and Ryan bellows in anger before getting back up. So the single bullet is for themselves, a fail safe. I am glad he didn't try and shoot Ryan, I honestly didn't think they could run that fast anymore. The other guy is screaming abort over and over again as he takes off for the front road. As he disappears around the tree running as fast as his legs can carry him I dash after them, Yvonna fallowing me for the time being. "Lucas stop" He falters in his steps but keeps going. I tell him to stop again and he looks back at me but keeps going after Ryan. Bishop jumps out the front door with his gun aimed at Yvonna behind me till I hold the rope up for him to see. Yvonna spins on a dime and starts screaming again pointing towards Bishop, Lucas stops and heads towards the house. Ryan bellows from the distance and I can't decide who to chase after. Bishop puts his gun down and gets ready to brawl, so I take off after Ryan. Who, oh so conveniently is running back in my direction. Right, the screamer issues commands. Yvonna chomps down on my arm and I cry out in pain. Human teeth are not sharp, but the jaw can still apply enough force to break bones. Without the brain telling you to stop before hurting yourself, your body can do some crazy powerful things. All those supper hero comics are onto something, if humans could withstand what we can do, we could all jump that high and break things with bare fist. It's only your brain saying stop before we accomplish the goal. Self preservation for the win. So all those stories about little old ladies lifting cars off their grand kids, yaa, that can happen. Just like the old farmer reaching to save someone from failing to their death. Despite being short a limb, yaa, the brain can trick your body into thinking that limb is still there helping. Right now my brain is screaming out danger, danger, so without a thought my body reacts to save it's self. Muscle memory takes over and I'm dislocating her jaw, to loosen the grip she has on my arm. Then I'm yanking her chain and sending her crashing to the ground as she screams for help. Her jaw is partly out of commission but you need the vocal cords to make any sounds. Oh and her brain is shut down and not telling her to stop before she hurts herself. I take the top mount potion and grapple her into submission. She's not thinking so this is easy. Then I see Ryan standing over me, I slap a hand over Yvonna's mouth to keep her from screaming out any coherent instructions. Lucas stands on the other side and I'm in so much trouble right now. Bishop tackles Ryan as Anissa latches onto Lucas.

"Back to the cages they go." Bishop body slams Ryan into the ground, temporarily knocking his brain around and dazing him. From there he help's Anissa submit Lucas. He picks Ryan up and starts hauling him away. Anissa and I simply have to keep them contained till he gets back to help.

"Brilliant dear." Anissa huffs out as Lucas try's to wiggle out of her hold.

"Flex!" I nod at her legs, he's working himself free, so she does and works herself down back into the right spot. Lucas deflates at this and pauses for a moment, as if thinking about this. Then I realize Yvonna is not giving him any orders at the moment so he's almost passive right now. I mean he's not trying to free himself, he's only trying to eat us for lunch. He's snapping at her arms but can't quite reach.

"This has possibilities I hope you know." Bishop is back and helping Anissa with Lucas, who can't decide who to snack on first.

"This is also extremely dangerous." Anissa scowls at me.

"I thought you said it was brilliant baby?"

She cracks a little around the edges. "Oh it is. But it's also stupid and dangerous and I'm mad at you, so stop looking at me like that." I pout some more and she caves in. "Okay fine, it has a lot of merit, now Gorge's cover story sounds more legit."

"Indeed." Bishop struggles a bit before getting a good hold on Lucas's head, then it's a simple matter of using the head as leverage to make the body move in the right direction. Your joints are the strongest part of your body, but they can be manipulated to someone else's advantage. Throwing a larger target isn't about strength but about making your opponent move for you, by manipulating their joins. The body, via command from the brain will go where you want it too, all to avoid unnecessary damage. That's why the little guy with something like BJJ training will toss the bigger boxer around and win. All the strength in the world won't do you any good if your enemy knows how to control your body like that. Yes sheer stubborn will power and a lot of muscle mass can achieve great things. It certainly makes a bunch of stuff easier, but it's not the be all end all so many make it out to be. "But possibilities here."

"Like what?" Anissa narrows her eyes at us.

"Like taking back the compound after this. If he can walk around them without being attacked and still do his braininess thing, we could take it back without any losses, on either side." My back straightens up as Anissa pauses mid walk to think about it. Damn, he's right. I can walk through a horde of them and not one of them will try and eat me, but I still have a functioning brain. I could work the elevators, get to the right section and cause them all to go to sleep. After the fog lifts the army comes in and contains them. Rinse and repeat till their all caught. Badda bing badda boom, compound retaken and research started back up. Possibly without anyone, not even an infected losing their life over it.

"That's a pipe dream, we would still loss many. Yvonna turned on Darin, she knew he wasn't one of them after certain actions were taken. So simply taking the elevator down could signal the rest that he's not infected like them. Then he's left surrounded and massively out numbered." Aka dead meat. Bishop hauls Lucas up and Anissa helps me with Yvonna. Lucas get's tossed on his bed and doesn't move fast enough to get out before the door slams in his face. I struggle with Yvonna for a moment but soon enough I'm sitting beside Anissa with her face in the scoop. "Interesting, her system seems to have two of the tree beaten."

"Is she immune?" Bishop wanted to look but couldn't make heads or tails of what he was seeing.

"No, well, kinda sorta not really. I guess a key component is in that third strain making it stronger then the rest. So while she is unlikely to turn with the first two she could still go crazy on us. She would eventually sub come to the first two as well, it will only take longer. Her body made it's own version of the enzyme basically."

"This gives hope that the human body could defeat this virus on it's own, given the time and resources it needed."

"But the virus doesn't let them have those things."

"It's a high jacking of the brain's higher functions is what it is. To prevent it's host from seeking out what it needs to get better."

"At least it's not compelling us to our death, it's only trying to spread around."

"We don't eat, I'm pretty sure that falls under 'compelling us to our death' idea."

"Well, not really. There's a few out there that compel their host to literally kill themselves. Like the one that makes the cricket jump into the water. The cricket would have lived out it's normal life span if not for the parasite. The crickets death is another stage in it's life. The virus is co-dependent on both the host and the cold or flu bug it's sneaking a ride on. First it needs the cold bug to start lowering the immune system. Then it helps to lower it some more, after the flu has weaken our immunity enough it starts to take over. From there it co-depends on us to keep it alive and spread it around."

"This virus isn't that strong, so it makes us less hungry to help lower our immune system, the weaker that is the stronger it seems. I bet most, if not all of this world was infested with the virus before we even knew it was a thing. Even before the first people turned into the infected." I pause looking back at my family, a part of me desperately hoping the cure is found soon. Even they won't last much longer without real food in their system


	13. Chapter 13

It's another three hours of staring down a scoop for us, then another hour double checking plans. A small meal and a nap later I wake to Bishop telling me back up has arrived. Lots of back up. Kandace comes bounding around the corner with a bag full of something. She crashes into Anissa with a bear hug before pulling me in as well. Her bag has a collection of clothing for Hailee to pick through if she would like any of it. They still have price tags attached to them. So big bad Kandace made a bunch of military men divert from their mission to get a little girl some new clothing. I crack a smile at this and she chooses to be obtuse on purpose. Inside the chopper I see she picked up some toys as well. She will stay behind with Anissa and the other woman that came along to keep an eye on Hailee. I worry about their safety till I learn several were mothers before this. I now pity the fool that try's for this farm while the men are away. Haille just got like 20 plus adoptive mothers, she'll be fine. Loaded for bear I hop into a jeep that was air lifted here and find out those choppers have enough fuel for two more trips. After that it's land travel for a very short time before were stuck on foot for the duration of this trip thou hell. I'm in charge of keeping the exit clear if Bishop sends the guns in. A description of who we're looking for is all they have to go off. So I hope nobody gets shot by mistake.

We approach a junk gate and fence system that has been cobbled together. Some parts of it are cars stacked on each other. Some are metal/wire fenced sections that are zipped tied together. It's shambled in some places, but someone took the time to make wooden look outs at regular intervules. Most are even maned.

"Sure you still wanna do this? There's a lot of potential innocent people down there."

I debate with my self for a moment, there is no need for this attack, we are leaving right away. Still a part of me is sure that this is the right move to make. "Yes, he needs to be taught a lesson, maybe we can find said innocent people and take them out of harms way. If it's every man for himself and little kids are left to fend for themselves I'm willing to bet a lot of people don't want to be there. They don't have a choose."

"Then it's show time." He slaps me on the back and sits back on his heels. "There doesn't appear to be any snipers from the recon that's been done. Still I don't want to face the wrath of your girl so wear this." he hands me a helmet with some extra stuffing inside. I realize it's bullet proof one, so only my neck, part of my face and joints will be exposed and in danger. I sigh putting it on, I'm going to look silly but I guess it's better then dying. I would never hear the end of it then. I saunter on down the hill side, the road looks empty but I know there is about 30 well trained military men around me. Then causally make my way with mega phone in hand to the front gate. There are two guys on each side, all looking at me their hands reaching for their guns. I throw a hand up to wave at them. They still reach for their guns, guess they ran across a few smart ones trying to play non-infected as well. So I raise my mega phone up and call out to them. "Hey there!" Talking is a sure fire way to say I'm not infected. They instantly relax at this. "I'm looking for the man in charge, is he around by any chance?"

Someone pulls their own mega phone out to respond. "Yaa Mac's around, who are you and what do you want?"

I smile to myself, if they knew me they would know that's a bad sign. "I want to negotiate his terms of surrender to me." As predicted they laugh at me. "It's fine I got a few if he needs some time to think about what he needs out of this deal."

"Kid" He laughs at me. "It's one vs 50 guns. Mac anti surrendering to you anytime soon."

"Young adult acutely, I'm not a kid. And just because you have guns and I don't doesn't mean your going to win, Let Mac know Darin Harlan is here to see him."

Sure enough my name grabs someone's attention, before the guy can respond his buddy to his left whispers something in his ear. He nods him in to the town before giving me a hard long stair. "Ok Darin, Will get Mac for you. Anything else?"

"Yes" He looks a little shocked at this. "I need to make an call over your pa system if you have one." He shakes his head muttering something, I think he said ballsy but I could be wrong. Either way his buddies nod in agreement. I'm left waiting for all of 15 minutes before the gates swing open.

"Hey" I wave at the three men approaching me. "You look important so you must be Mac."

"Yes I am, Darin. So I hear you think I will be surrendering to you, yet I have all the guns and you only have a stick."

"Bo."

"You can't shoot an arrow with that."

"Aaaa... Bo means staff in Japanese. I have a staff not a stick, see no random twigs sticking out. Just one solid smooth piece, that makes this a staff, or a Bo, and not a stick. Big difference, thou in a pinch I could wield a stick with the same results." I'd tell him to ask Lucas about that but he can't answer him right now. This is funny watching his face darken the longer I'm talking. Something about the end of the world as I know it has had a bad influence on my sense of humor. I swear I wasn't this twisted before. "Anyway, I'm going to get to the chase. I don't have all day after all, I still need to make a big move, help plan a counter attack on the compound. Reinforce some cages and round up a few things. Preferably before supper, it's my turn to cook and I want to treat Anissa to something nice. So anything to help move this along would be great. I'll be flexible if you hurry with a list of things you want out of this deal and I'll see what I can make happen for you."

He starts laughing at me and I feel my face scrunch up, I hate it when people don't take the easy route I give them. Ryan at least learned that I meant it when I said it was time to give up about half way through his chess games. He would look at me, look at the board, I'd play out the next few moves and what he was planning and end up taking his king. So after a few of these take downs he started knocking his king over when I went on like that. Mac, clearly thinks he can't be out smarted by a young adult like me. He finally stops laughing but still slaps at his knee. "Okay kid, and here I thought you wouldn't have a sense of humor. So say I do surrender, what do you plan on doing with my people?"

"Hmmm, well not to much. They could stay here or they could fallow us in taking back the compound, those walls at least are not cobbled together and much more stable. From there they will be assigned a task and a duty to a cretin locations while I keep working on a cure, you do want that right?" He's temped, I can see it in the way his body leans to one side, fingers stroking his jaw line. I think it's an old habit from when he had a beard. "From there it's really same old same old in a better secured area. I will leave it up to them, I don't even necessarily want to over throw you, I'm looking for recrutes at this point."

"No need for wasted man power with a shoot out? Oh wait, there won't be one cuz I got all the guns and ammo. Plus a friend of your's acting as a hostage. So I don't see why I would surrender to you?"

"My friend will understand. Do you have a pa system?" He nods yes. "Great, why don't I make an offer and then you can decided to start a fire fight or not? "

"Sure, but my men are loyal to me." He's humoring me, but from what I gathered from George he's men are not loyal to him, their scared of him. He flips out a walkie-talkie, George said the system was all connected to a speaker that had one of those placed in front of it. Simple and crud but effective. "Okay listen up everyone." His voice crackles from a speaker not far from here, so he is broadcasting. "I got a kid here by the name of Darin Harlan. One of them science geeks that was plastered all over the news before the infection took over." He's trying to turn them agents me before I even speak, discrediting me with my age and their fear that I maybe responsible for all this. Internally I'm lmfao. "He wants to know my terms of surrender but wants to say something to you first. So listen up good. You got five minutes boy."

He hands the walkie talkie over and I plaster that smile on my face, big and wide. It's a little unsettling and kinda hurts but I have everyone's attention now.

"Hey everyone, Darin here. I don't have all the time in the world so I wanted to see if anyone wanted to join me in taking back a more secure compound not that far from here. I can't promise much more then additional security. I haven't been to the compound in months now, but it comes with a lab I need to keep working on the cure. I believe I may have solved two out of the three strains. You may have noticed that there are three different kinds of infected walking around, each one was infected with one of these three strains. That's why it's taken so long to get this far. But back at that compound I will have a proper working lab and things will go much smoother. You may have noticed that all the near by food is gone by now, it's a matter of time before you all start starving to death. The compound may have food to keep us going for longer. There was a massive garden in there that should be full of fruits and veggies by now." I watch Mac's face fall, I can promise several thing he can't. "Should Mac choose to open fire on me instead of letting you leave simply lay down your weapons and assume a surrender pose. It'll let the army men with me know to leave you alone." Mac's head snaps up looking into the trees as Bishop lands beside me. A bigger gun now waving in Mac's face has everyone out here frozen. "I know Mac took many of you under his forced wings, so I am giving you a chance to walk away free now and join us. Maybe you can help provided a cure for all this madness. I would also requested the help in locating a few dear friends of mine, they go by the names of Lily, Mr and Mrs. Jordan and George. They were looking after a little girl named Hailee, she's safe and sound with me right now." Mac is going to pop his only brain cell at this rate, he's getting red at a dangerously face pace. "I offered him the chance to surrender and have everyone come with me but I'm not sure he wants it, then again you have how much food stashed under your house Mac? A whole three months worth I believe? It isn't very nice of you to hoard while everyone else is forced to go without several times a week." I can hear a commotion going on inside, a few rounds go off then there's a large crash. Some more shouting and screaming, cursing, people come running up to us as Mac goes whiter then Nelle mid winter. "So Mac, wanna surrender or duke it out?" Look, I even did that in under five minutes, go me. A woman is holding a bag out in front of her screaming at Mac for lying to them, saying there was nothing left, her son died two days ago and Mac had the food and medication he needed to keep breathing. The guy beside him lunges forwards screaming bloody murder and something about revenge for his son. Look mom, I started a coo. I stand by and watch the man's hands wrap around Mac's neck and start squeezing. "I said I don't have all day, I got some very important things to do and I promised a nice dinner for Anissa, just the two of us." I pause remembering I still have the walkie talkie in front of me. And it's still broadcasting. I feel my brain freeze and face heat up as some lady aww's at me. "So you interesting in surrendering yet or do you wanna deal with that first?" My head nods towards the gate, there coming out of their homes by the droves. Bags already packed and ready to go. Guess George was able to talk to a few people before seeing Mac. He looks back at his men on the gate putting their weapons down as army men land beside them, he watches the man in front of him bare down with murder in his eyes, then his hands go up in surrender. "Great to see you have a brain and know how to use it. You can let him go now, he'll pay for everything later on, I swear." The guy tightens his hold for a second but lets go, drops his gun and walks back to the lady holding the bag, she collapses into him and drops the bag. A bottle rolls out, down the slight hill towards me and I crack around the edges reading the label. "You had cancer medication and refused to give it to a someone in need?" I nearly boil over and see red, my Bo is in motion but Bishop shoulder checks me, throwing my aim off. It slams into the ground millimeters from Mac's face as his hair and cloths move in the after air flurry caused by the staff. His eyes go wide as Bishop snarls in my ears.

"He'll pay later, keep your world or loss some."

I yank on my training, wishing I had spent a little more time mediating with dad and Lucas, breathing in deep throw my nose and exhaling slowly out my mouth. "Fine, if you wish to join us, grab your things and anything that might be useful at all. The compound was taken over by infected, it won't be pretty getting it back, but it will prove to be a safer location. We have a back up location that will temporarily hold us for the time being." I toss the walkie talkie at the first guy I can. That went off better then I hoped for. I thump the ground in front of Mac with the Bo. "Where are my friends?"

"Mr. Jordan never made it back from a food finding mission, along with six other men, I'm assuming they were taken out by the infected. George is with his mother and girl, unharmed even after losing Hailee. Thou I was tempted to beat him for losing a kid like that."

"You sent him to capture me." He nodded at this. "Then you sent the wrong person."

"I see that now. I didn't know he was your friend, he took the mission from someone else. I'm guessing to warn you, then lost Hailee before he could complete it."

"Last I saw them they were headed out to the bonnies and a log cabin, far away from anyone else. How did you happen along them?"

"I collected them as I went. We stripped a place bare then moved on to the next place. Relocating as need be, as often as need be to keep everyone feed, to pick up survivors as go. Safety in numbers after all. I found them on the side of the road, broken down van and infected moving in on their location. Poor guy was doing his best with a stick to keep them away but there was too many of them. He flung it around, you do not."

So he was copying the moves he had seen me practicing. Intimation is the sincerest form of flattery they say. "I have been training almost all of my life with these kinds of weapons, I could swing a sword as effectively as the staff. I can toss men 3 times my size with little to no effort away from me. I know how to dislocate a join or break bones with out a thought because I live and breath the old ways of bushido, the way of the warrior. I don't need guns to take an enemy down."

"Your a scary person knowing all that now."

"If I scare you, be thankful your dealing with me."

"Why?"

"Because I look like a beginner compared to my brother, my father was a master of four different skill sets, I barley have a black belt in one."

"Then I'll thank my lucky star it's you and not one of them."

Bishop snorts at my side rubbing his jaw. "Can't say I got that same warning when we fist met. I got a staff to the side of the face before watching his father take out 10 stat troopers without a weapon. I didn't know anything was wrong till the bodies hit the ground, almost like domino's"

"I pissed the wrong family off, got yaa. Darin." I swing my head back around to look at him. "You have another friend inside the skating rink in town. We found him wondering around the other day..."

"Crispin!" I take off into the city, pushing past people, shoving a few out of my way. "Wheres the rink?" I pause long enough to ask a guy helping someone out with their cart of stuff. Mostly useless from the looks of it but whatever.

"That way" He points to the east of us and I'm off at a run.

A block over Lily waves at me helping Mrs. Jordan out of the house. "Darin! George went to the rink, down that street..."

"Thanks Lily." I take off the way she pointed and rush up to the doors, only now realizing Bishop has not left my side in the mad dash. I come to a grinding halt in front of the doors. There is no way to tell what's on the other side, I could be releasing a flood of infected by opening them. I breath in deep and start looking for a way up, there should be windows around here somewhere. Bishop calls for back up and rope to contained Crispin with pointing to the side of the building. I'm about to head out to the back when the front doors crash into the building. So we race back around to the front to see George trying to pin Crispin, who's trying to take a chunk out of George. I yell out at him "Crispin stop trying to eat our friend!" before pointing at George. "Let me handle him..."

"You already did." We all pause to see Crispin looking at me, side glancing at George. "How are you feeling? You look a little flush."

"Terrible." I have been running a fever for a while now. "But I came running when I found out about Crispin so don't worry about me. Crispin?" He looks at me, then looks at George and Bishop then back to me. "No eating our friends." He pouts at me as I tie him up. "Come this way for food." He fallows behind me and I have to restrain him when we get closer to the other people. "Crispin no." I march my friends out, hop back into the jeep and head back to the farm, leaving Bishop's men to deal with all of that. They can't get a lift back anyway, they will be walking it. So hopefully no one turns and no one dies on the way to the secure location I was talking about.

I'm getting everything done today! Back at the farm I show Kandace how to reinforce the transportation cages. Help Bishop plan the compound attack. I rounded up some wild flowers and place them in the vase before making supper and even got some work done with all the new samples I have. Bishop is twitchy with Anissa staying with me for the night but lets it go, I think he recalled the last time he tried to separate us and how badly that ended. Hailee is placed in special care with several woman tending to her, she still has Aurther with her and I smile to myself. I did good with that. Still, I uprooted everyone from their home and sent them out on the open road, how will they fair like that? George assures me that Mac never lost a person in travel mode but I can't help but worry. Anissa sleeps beside me, star fished out this time, door partly open. It's going to be a rough few days, but with any luck on our side we will have the compound back by the end of the week.

Bishops voice barks thought my ear piece. "Alpha go. Bravo cover. Charlie flank. Delta stand by" I hate it, but I stand by. This was my plan why am I back here? I look to my left and see Anissa and Kandace pressed into the wall. "Echo on Delta, stay with our smarty pants group and keep the scientist alive." Right, that's why I'm on stand by, my brain is more important then my fighting skills right now. I am also a melee combatant while the army likes to fling bullets around. Everyone inside the next four levels are out for our blood, we need to secure this main floor first. Then make our way down three more levels to get to the labs. Bullets will clear this faster. But it's good to have a sword, a bow and brute strength behind me again. Sadly it's not my brothers, but Kandace is as good as Lucas, I trust Anissa's aim and the new guy has a one punch knock out left hook. My face still hurts. Plus 15 men behind me carrying automatic big ass guns is making me feel confident with this plan. We only need to clear this first level and the last one, the infected are going to be put to sleep and used to confirm these possible antidotes. I say possible because they haven't been tested yet. This is a gambit, and it has to pay off. Satalities have shown almost everyone is infected. Humanity is circling the drain. If this doesn't work it's only a matter of time, a very short time before we run out of food and turn ourselves. This last month has been the longest and shortest of my life. I am ready to end this, one way or another.

I hear the guns go off ahead of us. Adrenaline fires through my veins, my hear rate jumps up. I can feel it pounding away in my chest. Every little sound draws my attention, lights and shadows play games on my eyes. Anissa bumps into me, my eyes dart over and my attention is captured. We have come so far, been thru so much. I see her eyes are red rimmed, Choles little helper wearing off, I know my eyes are more red then her's.

"Together"

"Together." I take a moment to wrap my arms around her shoulder, foreheads pressed together and hot breath on my face. I pull back nodding at Kandace, her eyes even more red then mine. She's about to turn, could be any minute now. That's why Anissa and I have the access codes to the labs down there. So does half the army guys behind us, with everything they need to test one last time before mass production can begin to solve everything. Or before eating a bullet because it didn't work and there' no one left. Humanity's death grip on life is slipping. I take a moment to look back at the choppers behind us. My family and friends are in containers, locked up tight and comatose at the moment. Completely helpless should anyone still human come along them while we are away. The odds are extremely slim, there are still pockets of humans out there. But for how much longer? Who doesn't get sick sooner or later? Who ever made this virus was either viscous or too smart for there own good. It worked too well, then it mutated on them. The guns get farther away from us, and Bishops voice is in my ears again. Move forwards so many yards, we're not to get separated from the main group by much. I guess we are covering their retreat in a way. Of course retreat is not an option, it's do or die time. My feet move forwards, my eyes sharpen as I focus more. Feeling feet pound the ground behind me I take point, Kandace to my left, new guy right behind her and Anissa to my right. This formation allows the guns behind us to shoot us if we turn at any point in time. I can feel the need to tear into flesh surge in me. Several people behind me are not infected at all. I turn this need out to the ones between me and my goal. Fueling my rage I storm ahead, battle cry at the ready. Kandace's head snaps to her left as something comes tumbling out of an air duck. The infected bounces up and turns to the ones behind us. He ignores us, turns his back to us, then dies for this move. Without mercy Kandace takes him down without missing a step he's tossed to the side and I hardly had to pause my two steps it took her to swing that sword. We're back in motion, as we round another corner Anissa shots off an arrow making the treat dead before it was even a problem. The six that fallow it are minor distractions at best. My staff lifts one up like target practice. Kandaces kodashi is blur as the other guy pumbles another one. The army give off a short burst and the last two fall over. I'm about to bring my staff down on another head when he shows me his face. I manage to pull my shot enough to graze by his head.

Kandace screams out "Don't shot" Using her own body as a shield in a wide stance. Mr. Sabb is a wreck. At least he isn't covered in blood, nobody has died at his hands as an infected. He blinks at this and starts crawling towards the army, who point guns back at him. "Daddy don't" Kandace pulls on his sleeves, he looks up at her, looks back at the army and gruggles out something. "Not know, fallow me" He keeps looking back but he gets up and fallows her. Either he's mindless or a smart one fallowing another smart one's lead. He's clumsy so I don't know how much longer he will retrain this level of intelligence to not mindlessly attack, unless he's a smart one. They seem to hold it together a lot longer then the others. Guns click empty ahead of us and some of our people start screaming. Bishop is requesting backup so we spring forwards. Guns clear faster, but you waste a lot of ammo with them in the process. I charge right into the middle of the masses surging forwards, Anissa at my back with her naginta out now. Kandace takes her dad off to the side sending the big brute to back us up. Her goal is to keep the army off her dad right now. She can fend for herself, so I have to resort to bashing head in while the army reloads. They only have a finite amount of bullets per floor we're clearing. So they can't use them all up before even getting to the target location, never mind holding that location while we can hopefully by pass the other two floors. There are a few bellows sounding ahead of us. The very reasons we didn't try and sneak in. Crazy's can tell we're not friends, they often attack the partly turned. Grabbing the mindless masses attentions and dooming the ones that don't completely belong. We need to clean this up faster. "Bishop!" I point towards the incoming, several ragging crazy's are foaming at the mouth. They have gone beyond the point of no return. So he opens fire on them. Watching people drop dead and roll, causing a chain reaction of tumbling bodies like domino's behind them is comical. In a morbid kind of way. That first row is dead. the second row is probably dying, critically injured or crippled. The 3ed row are dazed, the fourth row goes around them and keeps coming. We're up again. I must admit I am getting tired already, I'm resorting to batters swings. Hand to hand combat battles don't last this long. At least they shouldn't. It wouldn't be so bad if I'm wasn't partly sick, partly taken over by a virus, half starved and exhausted. I never was one for rage fighting, so my anger is not carrying me very far. The new guy behind me, he's rage is carrying him fine so I wave him forward, taking up a protective stance to his right and Anissa fallow suite to his left. He get's to bash heads in, we get to conserve our energy. We tear through the masses, making a hole for Bishop's men. We get a chance to rest while his men tear a hole into the next batch. Then we're back up, then it's them again. Finally I spot the elevator doors that we need. It's my turn to use myself as a shield. The doors open wide, Chole is on the other side. She blinks in shock at this, I jump towards her, arms out wide. "Don't shoot!"

She screams spotting the army with a few dozen guns pointed at her face. "Please don't shoot!"

"What?" Anissa blinks at her talking to us. "Infected don't have speech" A closer look reveals blood shot eyes still. "Explain!"

"I don't know!" Chole cowers behind me, her eyes wide in fear as they dart around trying to keep too many things and people in her line of vision. "I woke up last night, I have been trying to get out since then. I thought the infected running away from this door was my chance"

"Chole" I place both hands on her shoulder, then one under her chin to raise her face up to see mine. "Is the lab intact?"

"Your infected too." She spots the red in my eyes fast enough, she side glances at Kandace and frowns spotting Anissa.

"Yaa, most people are. Is the lab usable at least?" It was our biggest fear, that we would get down there and it would be trashed.

"Ummm, kind of, I guess that depends on what you need"

"Not a lot, but we may have a cure for all of this, do you know a safe route to and from the labs?"

"The air ducks are the safest way around, but there is a route you can take by foot, if your nimble enough"

"That explains the guy falling out of the air vent." Kandace reroutes her dad from chewing on someones neck. "Darin, I'm not sure we should trust her"

"We have never seen an infected revert back before, it could be from her enzyme. Maybe the mutation caused a weakness the enzyme took advantage of. Either way, once turned they never regain vocal control again. So what happened, why can she speak to us again? Why is she not lunging for someone's throat? Why do I want to kill her?" I look back at Kandace and she nods in agreement as Chole shrivels away from me

"I feel the need to infect her, but not at the same time"

"Could the body be winning agents the virus on it's own terms?" Anissa steps forwards causing Chole's eyes to flash in anger.

"Really?" I slant my weapon between them, my eyes are flat and unimpressed with this right now. "Green eye this shit latter, we need back in that lab are you going to help or not?"

She backs away from my unfriendly tone but nods. "Fine, I can show you the way I took to get out after one of the infected attacked me. I figured they all would and did my best to avoid them."

A large part of me wants to trust Chole, another part of me say's the virus may have mutated to help it finish the job it started just 6 months ago. Dear lord, six months was all it took to bring the human species to it's knee's and brink of death. Okay, it was closer to one year to infect almost everyone, but only six months after that to almost kill us all off. I wave her ahead of us and she protest.

"Shouldn't the army go first?"

"The're behind us in the event that we turn, orders are shot to kill fyi." I wave her on again as she gulps a lump down.

"We are going to the 3rd floor down, there waiting en-mass at the bottom of the fourth floor. From there we will have to scout half way across the compound in the wrong direction to find the right air vent to take us down to the fourth floor. Then we get to take the scenic route back to the labs."

"Makes sense" Kandace nods in agreement. "Not much was over that way, but we will have to pass in front of the busted cages from the sounds of it." aka, a perfect set up for an ambush spot. "Not the most out of the way plan, but not too far off from it. Darin" Kandace lets me take lead and I get into the elevator with them.

I push hold for a second, gaining Bishops attention "Someone will come back up with a code if it's safe"

"If not we will head to the fourth floor and continue as planned"

I let the doors close and Chole plays petty games with Anissa, trying to grab my hand as if she's scared, I finally shove her head into the elevator wall growling out my warning. "I'm only going to say this once. Keep your hands to your self. I know you have fighting skills, use them or get out of our way" It's enough to finally make her quite and stay in her corner. I may have hours, days if I'm lucky before turning. I don't have time to play Chole's games, I won't go out like that. I won't let Anissa endure it anymore, she may go last and I won't have her doubting anything that has happened between us. Just to be safe I pull her in close, whispers into her ears to ignore Chole and her crap. She nods her head whispering back, together. She knows where she stands, it doesn't bother her anymore. She almost feels sorry for Chole. Kandace clears her throat as the elevator slows down, it's our stop so we put a little space between us. We need the most room to swing our weapons. The doors not even all the way open when I leap out of it. Weapon posed to sweep legs out or bash someones head in. My heart is in my throat. Nobody is in front of me, I feel like a fool.

"Okay rambo coast is clear, now who is going back up?"

"You" I point my look at Kandace. She never even bothered to get out of the elevator, she shoves Chole forwards and pushed more buttons. It takes a few minutes but soon enough we have six army men with us. The rest are staying to hold that opening, we better make it fast. If all goes according to plan they can join us in two hours after we put all the infected to sleep on all the floors. From there everyone will be locked into certain areas to make walking about easier for us. I point forwards and Chole takes lead, Anissa right behind her, naginta raised for a killing blow should it look like she may have set a trap for us. Either we're really paranoid or losing our grip on our sanity.

To say we are shocked to make it all the way to the labs without seeing a single infected is putting it mildly. Not a single one. A look at the security cameras still working show why. Damn, if we had popped the fourth floor elevator door open we would have been swarmed, there crowding the hallways past the camera's view. Same with the second floor, third one is empty.

"As far as I can tell they never left the lunch room or work stations." Chole nods at the only 3rd floor camera working. It's office building like on that floor. Hallways and section off areas with cubicles on one side and a massive lunch room on the other. I do mean massive, like half a floor, around 5,000 square feet massive. It's the only one in the whole compound, meant to be breakfast, lunch and supper area for everyone that would live and work here. Some 15,000 people need a large space to eat. There were plans to have a second one on the other side built but it hadn't happen yet. Bonus to this single idea was that you could grab food and head back to your living area if you wanted too. Simply bring the tray back or let other personal know about it and they would pick it up at a designated time.

Kandace is typing away at a computer, inputting a few things, cursing at something before feverishly typing out something new. "Damn-it"

"What now?" The army guys are getting twitchy down here.

"I need to auto adjust a few things, some of the vents are shut down, this canister needs to be replaced. I can't be in four spots at the same time"

"Time to slip up then" I nod at the army guys in front of me. "Should have brought more men down"

"Too little too late" one agrees with me. "Two per person?"

"That will leave two without backup. Chole can stay here, she won't need it. Neither will I" Anissa loges her complaint at this but I glare her down. "Chole will be here, I'll take the most dangerous. Your getting two to watch your back. Kandace needs two to watch her encase she turns. New guy needs more help then I do, no offence"

"My names Christopher, not new guy. Thanks for the vote of confidence"

"Offence was not meant, I am having trouble remembering names these days okay. Your brute force, guns equals weapons" He paused with his hand up, protest cut off before he can make it. He nods his head lowering his arm. "Chole can close the door and hide if need be. What's the most dangerous part of this?"

"This air vent" Kandace points to the third floor air vent that's registered as closed. In the cafeteria, the middle of it... there's no way I'm crawling through those tiny air ways, so I gotta go throw them or pray there is no crazy's to let the others know I'm not really one of them yet.

"Looks like fun, safest?"

"Anissa is needed here, you have to input the highest level possible in the sleeping gas computers to have any effect on this many at once. It's not the safest or closes, but it's where she's needed." I nod letting her lay out the plan for me. "Christopher can go here, it's the easiest one. I'll go here, the closes so at least I know I'll get my job done. If I don't the army can take care of me, it and get back to Chole faster."

"Fine" I nod and everyone peels off, mini groups already assigned. "Chole" She waves me away, choosing to sit in her chair and spin herself around.

So off we take, I travel with Anissa for as long as I can. Agony and fear making it hard to leave her side. The only reason I'm still standing is her relentless vigil at guard duty. Now I have to trust two unknown men, with guns pointed at her head with orders to kill if she turns, to keep her safe. It should be me watching her back. Together, we promised that no matter what, it would be the two of us. But we can't be together in two places at once and we are running out of time. So I let her go and pray it's not the last time I see her.

Chole is right. The infected appear to be in the cubical or cafeteria. It's their only options, but the hallways are creepily deserted. My luck holds out, there are several crazy's in here. Their sniffing the air, trying to locate me. In this larger a crowed they are having difficulties. When someone lashes out at a random mindless the closes ones attack back. The human still inside is starting to starve and will be looking for food. Any kind of food. The crazy beats a few of them to death before being taken down. I try to move like them, I try to mimic their swaying clumsy movements. But I get a few looks. I'm the only one holding onto anything. I wonder if I might look like a smart one to them, maybe their waiting on orders or something. I keep moving towards my goal as another crazy lashes out a little closer to me. The guy beside me makes eye contact and I point at the crazy, suddenly 10 people beside me charge at him. Another guy looks at me and I point at another crazy. He takes the hint and charges with another dozen people fallowing his lead. It's the distraction I need, in the chase that explodes around me I make a mad dash for the air vent. It's up high and I need a lift. I flag a tall guy down and point up, he looks confused till I point at his shoulders. He grunts at me and try's getting on a chair, I have to help him then climb my way up to his shoulders. I'm almost done opening the vent when a crazy starts screaming. I know I'm busted when buddy chomps on my leg. I scream right back at him. My only thought is not now, I'm almost done. The room halts and a few more scream at me. Done what? I glance up into the supper new, shiny and reflective surface of the air vent and sigh. My eyes are blood shot, seeping red into the outer corners. I got two hours tops. It's why I can understand them so well, why they are responding to my commands. This also means I'm classified as a smart infected. I'll probably be a screamer knowing my luck. With my training and background that's dangerous, much like Yvonna was. I feel the tears prick at my eyes. I was hoping for a few days still. Anissa has about a week ahead of her alone. This could also mean that Kandace has turned as well. I scream out my frustration, I'm busy trying to save everyone. Crazy screams no and the rooms explodes again, their fighting each other, the ones closes to me more savage then the others. It's like their feeding off my emotions as well. I put the thought away and finally reef on the vent hard enough to open it up. I hit the floor and have someone dive bomb me, as teeth sink in again I bellow out in anger. All this biting is passing this virus around faster, taking more time from me. Get off me! I watch three woman rip the guy off me, then tear into him, through his stomach. I almost lose my last meal. I start screaming again. Stop, stop this madness! There's no need to kill each other. I bail on my group, only to find a few chasing after me. Close the doors! The trailing few pivot on their feet to fallow my command. Barracked it now. Again they fallow my command. Part way back to the others I make the few that got out with me hide in another room. Connected to a vent as well. Stay here, I'll be back shortly. They huddle into the corner and wait for my return. I'll head here after I let the others know my job is done. I won't endanger them but I don't want to die either. So I'll leave them and hide out with the rest.

I'm flooded with re leave seeing one of the guys that went with Anissa already back, he's covered in blood but it all seems to be blow back. I walk in ready to make my announcement when Chole try's to distract me, right in my face trying to make me back out. I grab her shoulder and shove her to the side. I see a lot of blood on the second guy, but he's dead. "Where is she" I turn on the guy at the door. My Anissa is not in this room.

"Here" He points to a spot on the map. "We got cut off from each other..."

I bellow at this. "And you just left her!"

"She is still making her way to her objective..." I'm out the door before he finishes, yelling back that my vent was open. I pick my guys back up, just encase. I boldly waltz thru the hallways, war marching my way to her. Screaming out for reinforcements, just encase. I end up pulling a dozen more infected to me. This has benefits right now I could get use too. I enter the hallways to see Anissa stuck in the corner, beating some people back. She's stuck and a crazy is foaming at the mouth. I let another scream go, get away from her! Crazy looks back at me, screaming in my direction, a few fallow his orders but my scream has a bunch turning on him. My guys out number his by almost four to one. I take a swing at the crazy to draw his attention, he's most content to go after Anissa but I yank him back down to me. He's crazy, but he's also starving. I bash my staff at his head, missing a few times before finally connecting. He's dazed and someone stops me before I can swing again. Anissa has tears in her eyes after spotting mine.

"Together?"

"I did my best but..."

"Together" I make the group stop attacking each other, restrain the crazy one and toss him into his own room. They keep moving at her but I scream out no and they listen. "So your a smart screamer I guess"

"That's bad, not funny"

"I think it's funny. Will they listen for long when I'm not as close as you?"

"It's the back up we need right now, are you willing to chance it?"

"I trust you"

"You probably shouldn't. Together" She cuddles in and I watch a few take a closer look. "I think they are starting to get better on their own"

"Unless you die, most people's bodies will kill off an intruding virus on it's own sooner or later. Our cure is going to help people get better faster, so we don't lose all of humanity"

"A few less losses at this point could be our only saving grace. Lets get you to that canister room." It gets harder the closer we get. Walking too close to the infected has some joining us, others watch me, waiting. It's creepy but there is this sense growing in me, that if I wanted too, I could make them all do what I asked. I tell them to get out of our way and to not attack Anissa. With this many behind us those closes to the doors bail on their post, another screamer is going full tilt but they listen to me more. I wonder why. I stand off to the side, protecting Anissa as the door opens. We are not surprised when the door opens and hordes of infected come crashing out. I'm screaming for help, turning some over as the two groups clash in the middle. I just push her into the corner, using my body as a shield while the two groups hash it out beside us, we get shoved a bunch and finally I call for more to surround us, so Anissa doesn't get hurt. My numbers are thinning down, so I call for a full battle crazy cry, we have to get into that room, failure is not an option. My group goes savage. I'm screaming for more reinforcements and few more turn to me. Someone screams from inside and a few switch back.

"You have to mean it" Anissa is looking over my shoulder, hands curled into my jacket holding me there. "You have to mean it, you have to issue an order. There mindless so if you don't give them a direction their actions will only be half asses." I muster the courage to scream out again. I was never one for giving orders, that always fell on Lucas's shoulders. I was the bottomless information pit. A hand reaches over and grabs her hair and I flip my shit, snarling out for blood. A fire is lite under my group and some kind of battle craze takes over, they are no longer holding back. They tear into the opposing group, a bunch switch to my side and I see an opening for her. I dive for it. Once inside the room I push her agents the wall, a memory comes to the for front of my brain. But not know, I help push our way to the center of the room. Teeth and nails sink in. Blood flows, but my goal is set, getting her to that control panel. Something snaps and comes crashing down. We are forced back. There is too many. My group is losing. I need something better then mindless masses. I shove us back and she protests this, we're almost there. Yaa, so are three screamers and half a dozen crazies. I can't compete with that, so I bail, screaming for a retreat. We went in with two dozen, four leave. Unacceptable losses. I storm back to the elevator, telling my four to gather more and meet back here. They wonder away, I'm hoping to find more. I hit top level button and I watch her eyes light up. "Your brothers"

"I hope they are awake." The door pings open and I see the army guys have an advancing group on our location. I scream at the new comers and they come to a halt, then back up as I release some frustration. A gun is pointed at my temple again

"Don't!" Anissa pulls on the arm but I stop what I'm doing, I can't lose it now. "He's gone enough to control them but still knows what needs to be done, he's looking for more skilled backup. I have to adjust the sleep aid manually but there is too many infected not listening to him to get to it."

"His family?" Bishop lowers the gun, then debates with himself for a moment. "Can he prove he's still in control"

"He's turning into a smart screamer, he won't let any of them hurt me"

Bishop snorts at this. "Somehow not surprised by that, here" He hands the keys over to Anissa. "They woke up about 20 minutes ago"

I raise my arms and scream at the incoming to not bother these humans. They back around the corners they crawled out from and I take off to the helicopters with Anissa at full speed. Anissa approaches yelling out her warning

"Incoming, don't shoot no matter what it looks or sounds like." An army guy pops his head around the corner and spots me first. "I said don't shoot!" He fires off a round anyway, with her standing in front of me I am not happy. Thankfully the bullet grazed the ground and not us. "Bishop sent us for his brothers"

I growl out at this and hear the cages rattle in response to my tone. "We don't have time for this"

"Half turned" The army guy pops his head out again. "I am at a disadvantage here. I know my orders was to keep them save, but a part of me want to run into battle for you." I finally get around the corner and see three pair of eyes looking at me, for once not like I'm a fast food option. I growl out again and three other pair of eyes lock onto my location. Even Amilia who turned last is ready to go. Yvonnna is bouncing in her spot, mouth taped shut, she's still a screamer. Mathew and Ryan are my crazies. Will they fallow me or out me for not being fully turned? I stick my arm out, into Mathews cage and he looks at it then back at me. Okay, I've gone far enough to be accepted by him. Ryan is showing increased agitation the closer I get to him, I hesitate sticking my arm in that cage and he knows it. He jumps at me, making me flinch back then starts screaming at me. I back away some more

"Mean it" Anissa looks at me. "He's the strongest, you need him to over power the others, so make him listen for a change"

Yaa, easier said then done. I try screaming at him to stop and listen to me but this only spurs him on more. He starts thrashing at his cage and am about to give up and head back with out him when Anissa sticks her arm inside the cage. I watch the gleam start in his eyes as we both jump towards her. Yvonna is screaming at me. Tell him to heed or else. Watching his hand wrap around her wrist, knowing he's going to hurt her pushes my last button. Stop. Now. He freezes arm part way to his face, he was going to bite her. "What were you thinking?"

"That your more motivated when I'm in danger." I grab at my hair and yank a few strands out.

"Sweet mother of gods are you crazy?"

"We're out of time, we need him. Make him calm down and release me"

I have to settle myself down, to not scream at everyone in general. Lucas stand cool and collected in his cage and makes me want to bash his face in. Your suppose to be mindless, not logically at this point buddy, your infecting wrong. Nelle and Sky are doing a better job of it, they look a little AFK at the moment. Yvonna struggles with her bonds, she wants out and she'll fallow if that's what it takes. Mathew is cool fallowing me. Ryan is still a challenge. It's all wordless screams and grunts to anyone else, Anissa looks more lost then the army guys. Two of them are shaking their heads, trying to clear the cobwebs. It's not a physic connection, its more like they understand on some basic level what I am trying to say.

\- Look Ryan, if you want out listen up, fallow my lead and give up the arm. -

\- But hungry. -

\- Later, right now we have a job to do. -

\- Not infected. -

\- She will be soon enough. -

He pauses at this, takes a closer look at her, smells the air and lets her arm go. He's the last one out of his cage.

\- Now fallow me and don't attack the non infected. -

They are not happy about this but listen, the army guys fallow behind us. Once more I need to tell the infected to back off from the elevator, Yvonna screams and they shuttle away from us. To be on the safe side Bishop informs me they may go down to the 3rd floor if this place gets over run, then fall back to the labs as a last resort. If that happens we are all s.o.l.

I grab my four guys, plus the near 2 dozen infected they rounded up for me. A crazy reaches for me and Ryan lifts him up by the throat, dangling him in the air while he gasp and gags clawing at nothing in front of him. I make Ryan put him back down, wind pipe intact, much to his distaste.

\- You can fallow me, get out of the way or die. Those are your options. We have something important to do. Getting the partly infected Anissa to the control station on the second floor. -

They fallow behind me, after my family I'm not too worried about the rest. It's a whole new side of cold for me, but we're down to the last days of humanity as we know it. I can say sorry latter, if there's a latter to say sorry too. Still, worry settle into my stomach like a lead weight. People are going to die again, and I'm leading the charge. I wonder if this is, to some degree, how Lucas felt leading us into tournaments hosted by other dojo's. Surely this is worse, back then he was under pressure to do his best and represent the dojo. To show off his skills in mock battles. I find it hard to breath, this is a very real battle, with very real death or life consequences. This is battle without fair play, rules and judges keeping score. Without medics on stand by encase of accidents. My thought was for better back up. Now I realize I put my family into a very dangerous station they may not walk away from, at an extreme disadvantage. Nelle and Sky are mindless, what was I thinking bringing them along, gone are the skills they showed in class. Gone is their grace and smooth moves. I watch Nelle almost trip on nothing and internally scream at this. If anything happens to her and we make it out alive Lucas will never forgive me. To my surprise Lucas help's Nelle find her footing without needing a prompt. To my left Ryan and Mathew are acting as meat shields in front of Yvonna and Sky. Even I am in front of Anissa. As we fast approach the doors I see more mindless waiting for us outside.

\- Protect each other! -

They grunt at me, but like always Lucas charges to the front, Ryan to his left and Mathew to his right. Sky and Nelle take up spots behind them while Yvonna starts bellowing out for reinforcements, Anissa stays back to guard her flank. I stay to protect them both as my brothers charge head first into battle. They are sloppy, but they are using their skills still... Mostly. Ryan has gone back to punching everything, but it works well for him. I can hear more feet coming in our direction. Yvonna bellows away and I hear a few screams start up inside the room before the big guys come barreling out at us. I figured they would target her. Ryan is not impressed when he see's who they are going after. He breaks rank leaving Nelle open to another brute. She goes down hard and I worry but the others seem to take up a protective stance around her. Was it my command, or does some human emotion and attachment still linger and effect their actions? The other mindless are not as concerned as they are, I guess a romantic relationship means more then a platonic work friendship. But yes, my people are helping each other. Picking each other up, helping an over whelmed friend. Helping to bring down an oversize opponent. We are winning. A hand shots past my face and grabs a hold of Anissa's hair dragging her down to the ground. Next thing I know Anissa is scooted back into a corner with her arms held in front of her face. Crying in terror scared face. I back away from her seeing the blood covered hand. I lost it for a moment there. Someone lays dead beside me and I shrivel in on my self, what have I done.

"Darin!" She lunges towards me as teeth sink in. Yvonna flips out, taking off down the corridor, Ryan hot on her heels. When he tackles her I know I lost control of him.

-Ryan! Get back here now!-

He bellows at me. Oh, I see what he was doing now. Some little guy was hanging off Yvonna's back, going for her neck.

-Never mind- I get a side attitude glare that is just so him I'm left speechless for the moment it takes someone to wrap their hands around my neck. I gag as Anissa screams, trying to give me some breathing room

"Lucas!" She's screaming at him, but he's not able to fully understand her, she hasn't turned enough yet. Blackness creeps in on the edges. I slap my hand to the floor, trying for some leverage to break this hold. Something, anything. "Mathew?" I look up and see my baby brothers eyes in my face, but his screams mean nothing to me. Shit I lost him. "Yvonna!" I watch her turn to face us, see whats going on and do nothing. I can't turn them on him, I need to break this grip. Damn, when did Mathew get this strong?

-Help me- It's garbled but it's enough. Lucas kicks Mathews arm down and away from me as Yvonna screams at him to get back into line. He shakes his head, I add my voice to Yvonna's. He backs away.

-come on bro, stay with us- With a finally head shake he's screams once more make sense to me.

-Sorry-

Interesting. In a way screamers are controlling the infected. Very interesting indeed. "Anissa" She looks at me, then helps pull me up. "I couldn't understand Mathew when he was taking orders from the other side"

"We need to amplified Yvonna's screams. Both your screams" She hands a recorder to me and off I go to Yvonna's side. Slightly off we manage to scream the same orders out before I give it back to Anissa. This side of the door is under our control, so I leave it up to Lucas to keep it under our control. Divert Ryan and Yvonna into bringing more reinforcements while I help Anissa back to a loud speaker that every floor has. I only hope it still works. It takes me way too long to Jerry rig the wires together, I'm less focused.

"Here" I hand her the tools. "I need to find a room to hide in"

"No, not yet. I can't control them, they won't listen to me with you gone"

"Darin" my head wipes around to see Kandace looking at me. "You weak shit, don't you dare give in now. Not when we are so close" She's piratically foaming at the mouth

"You most definitely need to find a room to hide in"

"Not yet" She crawls her way down the hallways, arm torn to shreds. Lab coat is tattered, pants ripped, even her shirt is torn away and covered in blood. She grabs a hand full of my shirt and yanks me dangerously close to her face. "Not yet"

I blink when it finally sinks in. "Not yet" Just like my promise of together, it means I won't give in yet. I still got some fight in me. Anissa hits the play button on our reordering and it echos around us, back down the hallways we came from. Everything goes quite.

"Go, I'll keep hitting repeat" Kandace waves us on as we go to check out what is happening.

There all standing there. Staring at us as we walk right past them. Stop, echos around me again. The louder the scream, the more they pay attention. Even inside the room everyone has stopped, Anissa walks right up to that control panel without so much as a glance from the others. Stop echos again as a few shuffled to look at us. Anissa hits a few buttons, presses enter and we walk out.

"I can almost make sense of the words your trying to use" She looks at me as something hisses to our left. We keep walking, our family falls into line behind us. Once at the elevator I hand the reordering over again. "But"

"It's not safe for us to return. Shoot to kill on sight, remember? I am losing what's left of me, please go before I hurt you." I usher my family into the room right beside us, smoke billowing from the air vent. "Get to safety and make sure the army doesn't mess this up again."

"Bishop's not so bad. I'll come find you if I feel the need too." She leaps into my arms, squeezing for all her worth before breaking away without a backwards glance. Fleeing from me. She hits that elevator running as I slip into the room.

-Rest. She'll handle everything else- I slump to the floor watching the world spin on me, no wonder you toss your last meal at the very end. Everything hurts, I can't focus on a single thing. Colors are swirling then going grey, then finally blackness takes over.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"Morning" Anissa bops my nose, I snag the out stretched finger in my mouth, lightly pressing down before realizing her finger. I am not a fan of getting bopped on the nose, yet she does it every morning. She's flushed again so I pull my hand out from under my head to check her temperature. She seems fine. "Feeling better today?" I utter an unintelligent sound in response, so bops my nose again, this time I grab her hand with my own. She looks disappointed when I let her hand go again.

"Dude, you are so slow" Mathew leans agents the door frame "You know she's..."

Anissa goes nova on him, shrieking "Get out Mathew now!" I am so confused right now.

"I need coffee"

"You need to think with you'r..."

Anissa half lunges at him, hands out stretched like an infected does when it plans on killing you. "Mathew, I swear to god I will castrate you if you don't get out now!" He beats a hasty retreat, if anyone could get away with that threat it's her.

"That seemed a little bit like over kill" I yank her back down into bed, she's still half naked. That shirt will only cover oh so much on her, good thing her legs got caught up in the sheets. "And I am not slow, I'm the smartest person here. Yes I know that sound coincided, but my s.a.t score proves it." She snorts at me and points to the door. "Fine, I'll take my stuff and go so you can get dressed for the day"

"No, I need a shower. Close the door so I can find my stuff and head that way." My hand swings out wildly, slapping in the general direction of where the door normally is. "It's agents the wall, you'll have to get out of bed to close it" Right. Fudge. I grumble again, half falling out of bed. I close said door and fall back into bed again, face down. She grabs her stuff and opens the door. "Morning Mr. Harlen, excuses me, it's my turn for a shower today." She wraps the towel around herself some more and walks away.

My dad takes one look at my mostly vacant expression and nods before walking away. "Mathew is right, you are slow. Or you need to wake up faster in the morning, one of the two." I glance at my clock, I'm not late for training. I have this vegish feeling wash over me, I missed something again. I half fall out of bed again to go in search of clothes stripping as I go, for once allowed to change in my own room. The door opens and slams back into place before someone runs away, back down the hallway. It takes a moment but the light bulb goes off above my head, I do believe Anissa got an eye full. This is confirmed when she comes down from her shower, spots me and goes a deep shade of red. Nelle almost falling out of her seat laughing at this set's Lucas off. Ryan chuckles in his seat, even dad is laughing at her. Great, we're a real graceful couple aren't we. Knocking needs to become a thing, fast. She skips breakfast, choosing to dash out to the barn. So I'm left scratching my chin trying to figure out how to make the next encounter less awkward for us. I'm still scratching my head unsure of my idea when I hear her scream from outside. I'm out that door, flying fast to her aid. That memory coming to mind has my weapon out and ready even as I run. She screams again and I jump around the corner weapon half way to the intruders face without a thought. It connects and he falls back grunting in pain. Anissa kicks at his prone form before dashing behind me cowering. I see red seeing a part of her shirt in his hand. My weapon goes up but something stops it from coming back down. Or rather, someone.

"Darin," Lucas and dad surround the guy as Ryan holds my weapon. "Stand down, back up is here"

"You" Dad kicks out at the man still huddled over his face. "Speak now" the man glares back at this. "If you can't speak your infected and I'll finish you off myself, last chance." Dad pulls out his todashi with such speed light dances off it. Anissa crying behind me sets a fire a blazing in my veins, I'll finish the fucker off before dad can if he doesn't explain right away.

He opens his mouth and screams at us. "I didn't know anyone else was here. I thought she was infected"

"Lies!" Nelle screams as she comes barreling around the corner yuma already loaded. She fires before I can blink, dead center mass he looks shocked as the arrow sinks in deep.

"Nelle!" Dad looks horrified at this but she's still snarling into the guys face.

"We got a watch out buddy, I saw you sneak up and tackle her from behind. She has way to much motor function to be infected, your boner proves it." He has nothing to say for this as she knocks another arrow. A glint of sliver connects with his neck before she can pull. He's dead a few seconds latter. "Sensei?" Nelle backs up as she puts her weapon away. "You stole my kill"

"Indeed. Such things should not be handled by children"

"Too late for that" Mathew leans on the corner of the house picking something out from under his nails. "But damn, wish I had one of those facing off that first bunch, maybe we could have saved Mr. and Mrs. Tryphaina then." Dad crumples at the reminder.

Lucas snorts at us pointing to his own swords. "A lot of good these did me not that long ago. Kill shots are easy when they are laying down like that. It's a different story when their fighting back and mindless about it." Another thing dad missed, I see the guilt is weighing heavy on him as his shoulders slouch even more.

"Guys" Anissa holds her tattered shirt edge to herself. "Thanks. But if you'll excuses me" She takes off back into the house and I'm once more racing after her. No one fallows this time. She comes to a grinding halt outside the bedroom door and whips around to face me with tears on her checks. "I'm sorry"

"It's not your fault" No thought required on that.

"No, I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention, I should have seen or heard him coming at me"

"Maybe" half my brain is in over drive the other half is blank. "But you never blame the survivor for what the attacker did. Even the most prepared can be undone by a cunning opponent. If what Nelle saw was true, he never planned on you being able to fight back." I can feel my face contorting with anger as my voice gets deeper and my face flushes with each connective thought falling into place. "It's looking like the end of the world. People are beyond desperate now. The weak will pray on everyone for anything they can get their hands on. It was only a matter of time before any humans still around turned on each other. Fighting like savage beats for scraps. Morals degrading with each step. After any semblance of honor is gone they will start with wheeling and dealing in other people to keep themselves a float. Woman were often seen as pray before this started. If it has already reached this level of horror it will only get worse from here on out as the foolish think all woman are open game." I'm only getting started when she places a hand on my shoulder to stop me.

"Darin" my eyes snap up at this. "It's okay, no lasting damage was done. My ego took a hit and my shirt is toast. But I will be fine, give me a minute to change ok"

"Want me to burn that?" I nod at the torn shirt.

"Sure" She slips inside the room and tosses the shirt back out at me. I hand it off to Lucas at the stairs. He takes off without a word, I'm sure he over heard everything and will take care of it for me. I'm glued to her side for the rest of the day, trigger hand itching to bash someones face in if they look at her funny. But since it's just my family and friends around I quickly burn through any rising anger. "Should have fed him to Yvonna." My eyebrow reaches up into the sky at her comment. "She needs nourishment, she would have drawn something out of him"

I can feel my face contort with rage as Ryan talks and makes logical scene about the whole thing. I don't want to be logically about it. "Probably nothing good, he didn't deserve to die in the first place. Sinking men will always drag everyone else down with them. Nelle should have stayed her hand, not force dad's like that. Now dad has blood on his hands and a desperate man is dead. Yes I probably would have killed him myself in the heat of the moment, but reflection shows we are now no better then him. We killed someone before they could comet a crime. In this world with smart infected walking around, he was right to think she may have been one of them. What Nelle saw was a man attacking a woman. What she saw was her own fear and worse case scenario playing out in front of her, she may have jumped to consultations. We don't know what his intention were, maybe he really didn't know you weren't infected. Now we never will."

I sigh, damn he's right. "We got twitchy trigger fingers" I saw red, I was ready to kill him. Without knowing what or why he was here I was ready to end him simply for ripping a shirt. If he was a bad person, if he meant Anissa harm we saved her from it. If he wasn't we are bad people for jumping the gun. That's too man if's in one get go. We we're desperate to protect our selves. We were the drowning men in this case, and an innocent man may have just paid the ultimate price for it. We can't say sorry for that later, because there is no excuses for acting out in such ways.

Anissa shivers beside me. "He didn't grab me like someone that was scared, that was a bad touch grab. I stand by the harsh actions, but it was skin it saved and I won't say sorry for keeping myself intact. I'd rather say sorry for killing an innocence man then risk my body, my life, my mental, emotional and physical health on the off chance he's just confused."

Dad has a good point, but I stand by Anissa. "Survival at any cost may add up to more then you're willing to pay"

"I so did not get this far into the end of the world to have it all cut short by someone that can't be bothered to say something first. I'll deal with that price when it's all said and done. Till then I'll keep a tally." It's a cold, harsh and logical statement. We we're willing to leave an entire city behind to get away when the infection broke out, what was one more person?

... ... ...

Ok, here we go again. Dad and myself are off to a near by small town to gather some food, if we can find any. "Is this wise? Two man teams don't seem to work out very well"

"Two man teams made of ill trained people do not fare very well Lucas"

"Ryan is not ill trained any more then Mathew is"

"But Sky and Yvonna are. We will be fine my son." I hope so, we're off to the first town Mathew tried to visit. To see if we can find anyone to barter with. He wants us to look weaker then we really are. I'm not sure why, I would have gone with big and scary. "Wouldn't looking strong make a better first impression?"

"If we want to come across as demanding or intimidating yes. But we want to come across as nice and simply looking to rebuild."

"But we have nothing to offer"

"Yes we do. Our blades, we can offer to get ride of an infected area or help build up a garden for everyone."

"In exchange that they do all the manual labor, we keep the infected away till better walls are built. We can demand our fare share in food for sticking our necks out like that. What if they have a way to deal with the infected already?"

"Maybe we can move in and help around town."

"Shouldn't you have brought Darin with us then?"

"I have made plenty of business deals in the past, I can do it again." I look at him over imaginary spectacles. Yaa, but Darin always did better because he can use the big words and talk people in circles so he gets more of what he wants. "I don't need your brother here to make a fair trade." He fidgets in his seat and we both know Darin would have been a better pick for that part. Hopefully that gives him something to think about for when we get there. If there's anyone left to talk to. If said somebody doesn't just shoot first and ask questions later.

I sit here in the passenger seat, looking at a pair of nice neat lines made of infected. That is so a trap. I watch the infect come barreling out of the field and hit the van as dad watches a few more creep up on his side. How are they doing that, is it the same ones? No way, Mathew was covered in brain matter, they have a few new infected in on this.

"I got one on this side"

"Three on this side"

"There not moving right." I squint at the guy banging on my side, he's getting tired.

"Neither are mine, and the infected are trying to move towards us, despite no screamer around here."

"Ok, I'll deal with mine first, see if we can get some answers from him." Dad nods me on so I swing my door out wide and wait, and as expected my so called infected doesn't lung at me. "Dude, your acting skills suck." He shambles at me and I can see the makeup job. "My girlfriend will need to give you guys some tips on how to blend."

"Your woman isn't infected yet?" He pauses part way in the door and looks at me before nodding at the shambles inbound. "They will get here eventually." at that pace, it will take at least 20 minutes.

"Then call your friends off and hop in, we can talk away from the masses." He backs up, looks at us, looks at the inbound infected and shouts out to his buddy's, gigs up they know. They instantly stop what their doing and I send them to the back. Dad switches off, leaving me to drive, stationing himself between them and me. "Interesting set up you got there"

"After a group of infected took out a bunch of incoming people we realized it was a great way to keep others away. They usually leave after the banging starts. What gave us away?"

"Several things" My dad starts off. "Infected are more aggressive. Even weak and half dead they attack faster and harder. You, were playing the part of a crazy infected, they are savage and would not wait for us to open the door, they would try to take if off the van themselves"

"Yaa" I can only imagine their shuttering back there in that pause. "We've run across a few of the unstoppable kind before."

"Second my son is right, you need some lessons in blending, you look dead, infected are not dead. Nor are you covered in anything other then dirt. So, there are humans in town still?"

"Yaa, we got us a few survivors. But we don't have any room for new guys. You mentioned a girl?"

"No, we mentioned a daughter in law." I'll let that pass and pretend not to freak out in the driver seat, why does everyone keep bringing that up? I guess it is the easiest way to say off limits.

"He said girlfriend"

"If he doesn't put a ring on it soon she'll be nothing after this mess." I twitch in my seat, surly she's okay waiting till after the dust settles. "So basically she's a daughter in law."

"To him? He's just a kid"

"She is not up for discussion. We we're hoping to find more survivors and open trade routs, to help each other out. If not we can drop you off at the road we found you on and go on our way." Guess dad is cranky and witching tactics on us. Told you we should have brought Ryan and Darin along.

"And besides the girl, what do you have to offer?"

"A way to get rid of the infected for you."

"No man, we got that covered. They keep other humans away. Or rather they keep a certain group of humans away"

"Oh?" My interest is peeked as well.

"Information cost old man, and right now we got the numbers..." I can't help it, I pull over harshly laughing so hard I can't breath right. "What's so funny kid?" I can't even get a good lung full of air in to warn them. Dad moves so fast his blade is out, damage is dealt and it's put away before the blood even flows. The guy jerks back hissing in pain as the shirt turns red.

"Numbers won't help you right now when we have the weapons." A glance in the mirror shows fear on their faces, all but one... "I was offering help, I am trying to help rebuild what's left. Do not insult me further, my patients has run thin already. I ran a dojo, a martial arts gym back home before all this. I am a master of more then one style, my son is set to take over after I retire. We don't need numbers, we don't need bullets. What we need is food and a safe half way point. I was offering a defense stance to help build up walls, to help secure a line of supplies for both sides. Yes or no?"

The last guy on the left, he's supper skinny, lanky, gaunt comes to mind, his lack of fear sets me on edge as he sits up straighter. "I like this idea, let's go back and we can talk some more about this idea."

"I request the presence of whoever is in charge of the town before making any official offers."

"Your in luck, that's me." He directs me down a back dirt road, a left, a right another left, he's trying to confuse me with mismatch directions. We've passed that tree twice now. I fallow a few more lefts and rights before pulling up to something that could pass as a barricade. It's only cars piled up. It's a good ambush set up. Looking hap hazardous most would think the cars where abandoned and left on the side of the tiny, just enough room for one car back lane road. We stop a ways back and he hops out, his men fallowing him. He steps in front of the van, waves till someone pops up and waves back. His arm sung wider to the left then the right, the guy did the same thing. He hops in the front seat beside me, as the others walk outside and beside us. I go slow to avoid leaving anyone behind without a fast hiding spot. That guy looks amused with this. The skin on the back of my neck crawls. "Names Brant. I made my way back home after the news broke out about the infection. My parents turned shortly after. Too much stress I guess." He looks at me and I feel like screaming lair to his face.

"We fled the city before the bridges were shut down." It's about as non dis-scripted as we can get, I'll let dad focus on answering and keep an eye on the road.

"Names?"

"I am Scott Harlan, my son Lucas"

"Nice to meet you boys." Man he's leaving a lot out right now. Dad is talkative about all of us to new people. He's a proud dad. Then again this leaves out how many we have, so potential advantage. "I don't know everyone's name in town anymore, most are stragglers we picked up from near by locations. They themselves looking for a safe place. In turn each help locate more supplies and bring it back. Somethings are worth more then others. It's down to barter style around here, a fraction goes into the stock piles but most of it staying with the finder."

"Finders keepers with a small fee to the town. Sounds like you have a system worked out here. What of those that are injured and cant fend for themselves?"

"That's what the stock pile is for. Everyone puts into it, and if something happens your allowed to take out of it. As you know this only works when everyone is being honest with what they found."

"Something that not every man likes to do with dwindling supplies to be found."

"That is why minatory random searches are done."

"And what happens when someone is found with more then they say they do?"

He doesn't look happy with the question, face sours a bit. "He gets put up on zombie duty and the extras are taken and placed in the stock pile."

"Zombie duty?"

"The men playing infected, some idiots wondered by with their fancy armored RV and got taken out before finding us. Unforgettably one of them took out the infected coordinating the attacks and the crazy guy before being dragged back inside the RV. So we had to kill off the screamer and started playing the roles our ourselves." Oh, goodie. He's talking about Mathew. Dad's idea to keep our numbers hidden is already paying off.

"So did you have more then you were suppose too?" Dad gives me quite the glare for this comment, the grin has my face splitting slightly as Brant shakes his head.

"Yes. But it was a miscalculation on my part. You see I'm not that good at math and counted the can's wrong. Besides, I volunteer for this role often. I don't make my men do all the dirty work around here." Little red warning bells are going off in my head, more lies. And he was doing so good at telling the truth.

"It happens to the best of us at times. With hungry stomachs it is easy to make mistakes."

"That's why a little extra is waved away, a lot extra gets you in trouble. And when no one is misbehaving you can earn extra by volunteering. To which I'm told I need to work on my blending skills. Not something I ever had to do before this." This time danger bells go off in my head, she's not up for debate but he keeps coming back to her.

The streets are lined with barrels, come night fall I bet they will be lit up to add warmth and to see by. Some stores and houses are barracked shut, others left open. The one infected pressed into the glass of the home we're passing by tells me why. Men, and only men walk around with guns and weapons out in the open. If you have infected crammed into homes and building so close by, you would carry heavy weapons with you everywhere too. He seems to feel the need to answer questions before I can even ask them. "Their tied up, in the event that bad guys poke their heads in we let them loss and hide in our homes. When the bad guys leave we range them back up, put the cars back and go about our business. It's a little crud, but it works." There are dozens of people here. They don't need our help, my hair stand on end sensing a trap. His men are staring at us driving by. Some hands on weapons, some hiding behind their backs, others look ready to turn. "Forgive them, new comers are not always a good thing. Pull up in that drive way, it's the new town hall."

I loath the idea of getting out of this van, of leaving it unguarded while we are inside the house, but it must be done. Quick sliver has nothing on this guy. Lies flow as smoothly as truths. But it's his eyes that give it away. They dart around and I know where his men are hiding even as he gives their potions away. Dad whispers five, I only counted four. I missed someone's hiding spot. The tree looks like it was set on fire, smells like it too. The front porch is covered in stains. Glass is broken on the second story. There where nicer places on our way in, why this one? I get my answer inside the door. A pile of bodies are getting ripe in the family living room. Looks like they took themselves out. Up the stairs we go, down the hallway to what was once the master bedroom. The walk in closet has the old stuff shoved inside it. Make shift then. The clothes seem to have disappeared or been distributed already. Odd, you would think the wooden bed would have been used as fire food by now. That mattress looks to be in decent shape too.

Dad finally speaks up sitting down on the plastic lawn chair. "That's dangerous, dead bodies are known cesspits."

"And?" He looks at us funny.

I can't help it. "Information is costly." Dad doesn't look happy with me but the guy chortles at this. as I take a post up on the far wall to keep a better eye on the door, I may be in a corner but it's the best I can do for now. I can hear people moving in the room beside me as he finally answers.

"Indeed it is."

"How costly can it get?"

"Depends on the information. Non infected are the most valuable, food storage locations, even if it's only a possibility with a risk assessment come next. It goes on down the lines from there. Skilled labor is in high demand, but that shouldn't be a surprise to you folks."

"Whatever helps then. How do you determined the value of a piece of information without giving it away first?" Dad looks more irritated with me but lets it slide as he settles in.

"I let a small piece go, then leave it up to you. I find most people are reasonable with their counter offers. So far very little bickering has happened."

"Then you have a good set up here then." Assuming it runs as he say's it does. Dad takes over and I try to lean into the wall to hear the other conversion happening in the other room better. Snippiest coming back to me. Dad lets him know about the infection spreading by the air, on common cold and flu viruses. Removing the dead bodies would help clear the air. In return we find out about a group of no good humans to the west of here. They like making trouble. From the other room I gather someone is missing and someone else is upset about this. Dad trades more information about the virus spreading around, when asked how he knows his answer is, from my son's research. The guy looks at me but I make no move to indicate anything. So he gives up a possible storage location with a high risk factor to it, no one has taken the job on because of how many infected appear to be around it. A smaller town a few hours away from here. There was a fair in town when the infection spreed like a wild fire, most of the town folks turned or where killed. As far as everyone can tell it's fully stocked, but no one has ever come back alive from retrieval attempts. If we can scoop it out, or even better find out what's wear we can have half of what we find. Running a small place like this takes tons of man power, and tons of man power means tons of mouths to feed. Dad is thinking about this. Not what he was looking for but it may be the answer we're going to get. The guy next door gets louder in his panic so Brant excuses himself to help deal with it while we mull the information over. So I turn my attention to the other room, pressing my ear to the wall. A pair of voices are going at it.

"I'm telling you, they just killed him, a bunch of them."

"Killed him how? Marco was a skilled fighter anti nobody taking him down that easily."

"I don't know man, I was too far away but it wasn't a gun that's for sure."

"What did he find that he deemed a further investigation without proper backup?"

"Woman, a whole bunch of them, a few guys too but a shit ton of chemicals and like lab stuff"

I can't breath. I'm frantically signalling dad over, face pressed so tightly to the walls it hurts. He doesn't ask, just presses his ear into the wall to better hear Brant's answer.

"Calm down Mike. How many non infected? How many infected, what kind of chemicals? Your looking at a months worth of rations here is you can give us detailed. Are they friendly?"

"Someone crazy chick came flying out of the house after the others. She had a funny shaped bow and fired before the others could say anything. They got a lookout. They had pits and mazes made from spike covered wooden barrack-aids to run through to get to the inside with, so we thought it might be a good little half way. He found the barn full of testing things, he got excited by all the stuff they had. It was laying around too. I tried to get him to run with some of it but he wanted to take a look around, something was running so he figured their were others around. That's when he spotted a girl by the house. He tried to capture her but it backfired on him, I ran out of there fast and went to the next houses but didn't find much before returning."

"How many people?"

"At least one infected inside the barn, maybe half a dozen non infected outside. but that farm house isn't meant for that many to hold so they could be sharing the space. They had it set up to test on that one chick and two more cages, one was smashed to pieces so I'm thinking they had two captives and the unstoppable one got out."

Dad's eyes are flicking back and forth like mad. I still can't breath. Holly shit someone has our layout and defenses figured out. They know our location, they know approximately how many are there. My head spins and I almost fall over. They are obsessed with finding woman, that's not a good sign.

"At least three woman, maybe more. Their hogging the toys man."

I freeze watching dad's eyes darken like that. Now I'm refusing to breath, like a rabbit staring a snake down.

"Only if they want to be. A lab eh..." Dad takes off from his spot and glides back into his chair, I'm left blinking at this as he signals me to his side. Away from the wall.

"Breath Lucas" Right, air is important. "compose quickly." I snap to attention, they don't known we know all that. Best to put a poker face on before they get back. Meditation is coming in handy again to bring my focus back to the here and now. And not sending me flying through that door and back to their sides. Our potion is compromised, we can adept and move forwards. And Nelle is never leaving the house again. She can spit fire all she wants, she's locked in that room from now on. "Lucas" Right, breathing, calming the mind. Not going savage on whoever is in that other room. I'm back to breathing right when Brant comes back in. He looks to my spot by the wall and see's me half bent over with my face close to dad's. He smiles like he knows something. Dad pats my face and sends me back to my spot talking without looking back at the door, giving Brant the impression he's getting information for free.

"Your brother is working as fast as he can Lucas." Brant sits back down in front of dad, his back to the window. The sun is getting low, we should be taking off soon. "We agree we can take a look around, feeding men takes a lot of food. But what of other supplies we find? And how will we get it back here?"

"Easy, you go scout the area, get some details and return here. I'll provide the extra man power and wheels to help haul everything back. From there we can split what is returned. If all goes according to plan we may have a fruitful partnership on our hands, if you can help with the infected as much as you say you can."

"I Ran a dojo, I specials in hand to hand combat and taking down my targets with speed and efficiency." It's not a threat, more of a warning. He's not as calm as he looks. "We shale head back to our camp not far from here and be back around 8 am." It's a smooth lie. It's going to be a late night and early morning for me. "If this works out in everyone's favor, we can start something a bit more sustainable."

"I look forward to our next meeting Scott, will you be bringing your other son?"

Lol, he's fishing for more information, dad humors him. "It has occurred to me that the more on deck the better." He bows with his respect, I mimic a half heart-ed one at best but I doubt he knows that. Dad may rem me out for it but I can't fake a full one right now. As it is turning my back on this man is hard. If I get any more tense I may pop something. Once more back out at the van I'm happy to see it all in one piece. Dad back at the wheel and we're shown to the back door. Guess the main front one is out of the count, being blocked by infected and what not.

Unsurprisingly I'm told to sleep on the way back home. Then sent to my bed, he pulls Crispin and Ryan off to the side to talk with them. Darin huffs at being left out again. But he will be the girls defense tomorrow While Mathew man's the look out with Sky.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

In the morning Crispin crawls into the van, gear on, Ryan is already sleeping in the back seat when I take the passenger seat. Nelle sitting in the drivers seat makes me twitchy. "Nope, back inside with you"

"Nope" Dad answers getting in the back. "She's driving, your staying with the van. Ryan and Crispin will accompany me into the town. I need recon first, Ryan does that best."

"Ryan breaks things the best" I glare back at him.

"They don't know that" ... Oh, yaa.

"Sleep on the way there. Nelle will wake us up when we get closer." ...She did get a full nights sleep, that makes her the most rested right now. Still, I've seen her driving skills. It's truly terrifying in a heart stopping crazy woman driving kind of way. I may not be able to sleep if my head keeps connecting with the walls. She pulls out of the drive way smooth for a change, I don't trust it. Still I lay down, my back to Ryan's as the van bounces around on the dirt roads. We all slept on the smooth highway, Nelle wakes me up, giving us a whole 15 minutes before she gets any closer. As instructed we come to the back door, as we designed a whole 20 minutes early. Dad hops out the back door and makes his way to the front of the van. Those standing guard let us pass and he chooses to walk beside the van. Brant's men have to scramble to finish getting ready.

Brant himself walks up to my dad like their old buddies. "Scott! How good to see a punctual group for a change."

"Good morning Brant. I hope we did not cause too much of a fuss."

"None at all" His man behind him gives him a dirty look for this. A house divided can not stand.

"And did you find an extra man to help today?"

"Yes, my son's." On cue Crispin walks out first, Ryan second, they look almost as big as his men, Brant has to look up at Crispin and around Ryan to see Nelle and me still in the van. Each of them nodding at their names. "Ryan is the best at recon, Crispin at knocking heads around. Lucas will be staying with the van to keep our exit clear."

"And the lovely lady?"

He eye balls Nelle up and I watch her shiver at the open gawking in her direction, she hisses out. "I feel like a piece of meat right now."

"That's why I didn't want you coming along."

"I'm the crazy woman driver with the extra training behind the wheel, I know what I'm doing."

"Sure am glad your mom paid for extra lessons" She startles at this but doesn't say anything. A ping goes off in the back of my head, she's hiding something from me? "Or does that have something to do with before us?" She nods at this and I let it go, it's the worst kind of memory for her. Her step parents are great and all, but they can't undo the damage that's already happened. I look over at dad, sooner or later we will have to tell them, but not right now. Right now everyone is getting back in the van as two trucks pull up with hitches attached to them. They certainly are expecting a lot from this town. I suddenly wish we had the armored RV back.

Ryan leans beside me, as if looking for something. "Big old farming trucks, extended cab and bed, holding 8 in total. Each. Plus I'm willing to bet a few more in those 8 x 12 cargo trailers." In other words I'll have my work cut out for me if they try and grab and run on us. I wouldn't put it past them to use us as a distraction or bait. I'm also parnained as all hell when one pulls in front and the other behind us. I can't breath right as Nelle chuckles beside me.

"Classic pinch move, so easy to get out of. Leave it to me sweetie" She's so calm right now, like nothings wrong, I resist the urge to pull my hair out.

"Relax Lucas." Dad calls out from the back. "Those look to be new and in good condition, their not risking those trucks any time soon."

"He has a point, no dings yet." Nelle nods at the truck ahead of us.

I counter with "Or they have a mechanic in there somewhere."

Ryan counters me. "Body repair specialists make them look pretty, mechanic makes the engine run." I grumble but the rest of the four hour drive is in silence. Even Nelle isn't talking, She's too busy memorizing the route we're taking.

Once more on the outskirts of a town we pull off to the side, dad jumps out, Ryan right behind him. I watch them crouch down drawing in the dirt before them, a sketch of the town. It's infested with infected. Way too many for anyone to take on. I'm watching a few dozen plus watch us, sniffing the air. We should be too far away to smell us but they are working with advanced scenes so you never know. A scream pierces the air, fallowed by another and another. Bellows are heard and the masses turn to us. Crap.

"Nelle, drive" I jump seeing her window down and dad yelling at her.

"Time to be bait sweetie"

"Oh no." I turn to see Crispin bailing out the back and hopping into a truck with the other men, dad and Ryan are long gone by the time I turn back around. So I dash to the back to finish closing the back doors as Nelle turns the van around. "Dad said drive"

"I'm working on it dear. You may want to buckle up." A peek out the back window shows what can only be described as a shit ton of infected racing towards us. I jump into my seat slamming that buckle home as she punches it. Someone probably lost an eye. Dirt fly's, tires scream and I'm thrown back into my seat with some g-force. She fish tails on her way out, gunning the engine for maximum sound. Then she takes the poor van off road-ing. My head connects with the roof a few times. "Sorry dear" She hollers over the next smack sound.

"The van can't take this kind of abuse, get us back on the highway"

"Darin said she'll hold" My head snaps around and I growl at her. "Ok so I didn't acutely ask him, but the van will hold." I yelp out with something hitting my window. There's an infected hanging on for dear life out there. She may be in there enough to know this is dangerous, her white knuckle grip and face scrunched closed say's so anyway.

"Why didn't you say you where trying to shake her off"

"What?" She looks at me, looks at the lady hanging off the door. "I wasn't trying to shake anyone off, I just like off road-ing."

"This. Is. Not. An off Road RIDE!" I thrust my hand back towards the highway and she pouts at me before turning the van sharply to her left, we come to a grinding halt with a side view. The masses are right behind us, tripping over each other, my voice goes up in pitch. "Get the van back in motion!" I point back out the other way. "Get the van back in motion!"

"And they say girls are hard to please." She guns it some more, burning some rubber she takes off further out into the field. I'll have to deal with the head smashing ride for now. "Your dad said to keep the exit clear, that's what I'm doing." She calmly talks as she glides the van around a scarecrow. I watch the infected attack it, then spit it out and keep coming after us. To be honest she's not going very fast, she's even managing to avoid the worst of the pits out here as far as I can tell. Not that my head would agree with that statement. But it could be worse.

"Just don't get stuck in one of those"

She gasps at this and takes a 90 degree turn, revving the engine she takes a few out on our way out of the flied looking pissed with me. "Way to jinks us. If we get stuck I'm blaming you."

That is so not how that works. I keep my mouth shut as I see the highway getting closer, the infected falling behind and holding my breath that we don't get into trouble.

"Hey we're losing the masses at least"

"Lucas!" She takes her eyes off the field to glare at me as we come to a face almost meeting the windshield stop. I feel the back end go up then come back down with a crunch and my brain goes for a ride it does not approve of. My world spins and I hate this plan. I watch Crispins truck come barreling at us. It's blank for a moment and then Mathew's shoving Nelle out of the drivers seat. She's half tossed at me as he slams the go button down to the metal. My stomach complains, I get my head out the window in time, only to see Sky shoving it back in. I wasn't done. Now I need a shower. Something bumps into the back of the van and we're out of whatever stopped us. Sky bails from window duty and I watch Anissa pull her back into the safety of the truck while Darin drives. That was a dangerous maneuver. I glare at him till he looks at me. Then he's pointing forwards, I swing my head around and see the problem. Even as the world tilts again. Like us, they brought their own back up, and their standing in nice neat lines with weapons out. Mathew yanks his steering wheel one way, Darin the other and I'm sent into the door again. I watch them take aim and I'm not sure who to protect more, Mathew or Nelle. Those are big guns, I might not even stop the bullets. They open fire and I wait for the pain to hit me. Does taking a bullet hurt or will it just be over? Once more out on the smooth highway Mathew brings the van to a stop and I'm left blinking at him, checking for holes and blood flying. Nelle scrunches her face in close as more bullets fly. She has reason to hate the sound of gun fire. I look at Mathew talking but can't make anything out. My ears are still ringing, even as stars float around my head. He shakes his head and points to my other side.

I see someone looking at me. He looks familiar, he taps on my glass and all I can do is blink, so Mathew reaches across and unrolls it for me. His words more or less making there way to my brain. "I think it's a concussion, or real bad whiplash." The guy shines a light in my eyes and I almost hurl on him. Please don't do that again, there's a ragging fire in my brain now.

"Both probably. That was an unexpected stop. Nelle didn't take the angle right." How does he know her name? Why is Mathew trusting him?

"Thanks Bishop, we'll take care of him." ...Oh, he takes off and Mathew eases the van forwards.

"Anissa's call..." I manage to hold my head up looking back at my bother. It doesn't feel connected right.

"Last night her parents called, he was coming in with a report on everyone. he must have flown all night to get here in time." When I blink at this he looks mad for a moment. "Toss the next batch outside please." I get my head back out the window as he keeps talking. "Mom's in stable condition, but induced coma. They were going to hit this place up to see if they can find a blood bank or something in the hospital. Guess our attacks couldn't be more well timed if we tried."

"Brant won't be happy about having to share a third with another party." It's all I can think of right now.

"Brant can deal with it." We come to a stop at the first hill outside the town, Bishop's men are holding the line for us. I get some attention from another medic before Darin checks in on me. He seems okay with the work done before taking off into the town with Anissa, Mathew and Sky beside him.

"Guess I'm stuck watching your lazy asses right now." Bishop grins at me as Nelle finally tosses her lunch. I flop over and wait for her to cuddle up. "No sleeping right now." Something gets tossed around my neck and I'm forced to sit up straight again. Then my arms are pulled in funny directions till I cry out in pain. "Major whiplash, major concussion. In need of a shower. Why don't you all come back to the compound with us already."

Nelle gets her own neck brace and funny arm stretches till she whimpers at a few. "Smaller groups, more spreed out means we're less likely to loss all the research team. Or work in the event that someone else turns on us."

"That's what Kandace keeps saying, but it's hard to keep an eye on everyone so far out from each other. We almost didn't make it in time to this shindig." He signals more people to go in when a red flare goes up. Then some more when another one goes up. I can feel the boots stomping and shaking the ground. I groan feeling like puking again but there's nothing left. Not even stomach acid at this point. A group come back with a crying Sky and Mathew covered in blood again. What fresh hell is this?

"I'm not sure what's worse, your puke or the blood" Nelle glares at me sitting down, Mathew can't breath right. Bishop goes to move in but Nelle's there holding everyone back. She makes him focus on me, to focus on Sky and he starts calming down. He crawls in closer and stares at the town in front of us. If there isn't a bounty down there I'm gonna be pissed. Her words sink in and I look back at her. Damn, I did upchuck on her. If I don't put a ring on her after this is done I'll never live it down. I may end up getting one on there before to keep this worth it for her.

I mumble out pointing at her shirt and pants. "Sorry"

"You look green still, lie down already." I would but the world spin's more that way. "Your going to fall over right away." I didn't even realize Bishop was holding me up. He pushes me forwards and I half fall on my knees that almost buckle on me. They help hold me up till the world stops spinning, almost 30 minutes later. Just in time for Ryan to limp back in holding Anissa up and Crispin covering their retreat. Dad and Darin are still out there somewhere. Another 15 or so minutes later dad comes back, without Darin and I'm freaking out till I find out Bishop's men are with him still. They come back in a truck filled with other boys. Once everyone is back with us there's a large victory cry about it. The town appears to be mostly stocked. A bounty in deed.

Brant walks up to our group and does not look happy at the army boys standing around us. "Impressive numbers, clearly you don't need our help as much as you claim you do." I never thought he would show up at the town himself.

"We are not staying with them, they are a happy little half way point and endless source of help." Bishop squares off with them. "And you sir lead them into a trap." He unclips his gun safety strap, hand resting on it. His men stand at attention, forming a protective circle around us.

"They knew it was over run with infected."

"It is not the first time you used others as bait, but your own men as well?" Bishop is scowling at this, I can't say I'm impressed with it either. His men don't even look happy with this. "Brant Kassady, you are known for leaving others to deal with the after math of your half thought out plans. I do not like you using these people in such a manor. Had you held your end of the bargain up they would have helped you with many more towns, without the high loss count."

"They helped, they get to keep half, that was our bargain."

"We are not interested in the food, but rather the hospital supplies, we have several on life support and in desperate need of them..." Bishop looks crossed at getting cut off, this doesn't seem to stop Brant.

"I did not make a a deal with you..."

"Brant" My dad stands up. "We will take our half and share the supplies with them, no need to argue. Your information sucks by the way"

Brant barks out a laugh at this. "Yaa, it always does but my scouts are armatures compared to you. I'm willing to bet you found lots of hidden stashes your not telling us about."

Dad looks rightfully affront at this, calling out his honor like that doesn't sit well. "I told you about all the hiding places we found."

Brant grunts like he doesn't believe us, he signals for his men before looking back at us. "Then why are you staying here?"

"We have heavy injuries, Lucas needs to kept still for a bit longer. It would be foolish to go back in there now, we didn't get them all and our numbers are down. We will be leaving shortly, I have a matter to discuses with Bishop before his choppers get here and bring the rest out of hiding." Brant's about to argue when one of his men points out to the fading sunlight. He glances out there, his jaw hits the ground.

"Fine, lets get out of here before all the nose brings worse things out of the wood work." He jumps up into a pick up truck bed and watches a few stay back. "Well, get in?"

"Sorry Brant." One guy steps up, he's freely bleeding down an arm. "I'm going with Bishop, you sent us in like disposable grunts with miss information on purpose. I figured you where mad at me for messing up that last raid, but this..." He waves his hand behind us. "This is the last straw." He draws a set of keys out of his pocket and hands it off to another guy holding a bunch of other keys.

"Not cool Brant. It was one fuck up and it didn't even cost us a lot." Brant looks pissed but he doesn't wait to see if they change their minds. He signals and the rest still with him take off, thou a few look back at us. The look of doubt on their faces don't bod well for them right now as they leave us behind in a dust trail.

The first guy is talking with Bishop again. "You okay taking this many at once?"

"Yaa, we got lots of space, I'm thinking wall duty for a bit for your men, till you get use to eating again. Crsipin right?" Said man looks up at his name being called. "My men found a few other hidden stashes, care to know where they are?"

"Bishop..." My dad gets upset at this.

Bishop holds a hand up stopping the protest. "You made the deal, I did not, nor is Crispin part of your family. Will fly low and try and draw the rest out, grab everything you can and get out of here, those masses won't stay passed out for long." He hands something bulky over to Crispin, with a piece of paper and some scribbles on it.

"Yaa, that sounds like a good idea." Crispin stands up taking the offered items. "It's about time I pulled some more weight around camp anyway."

With the incoming sound of the chopper getting closer I find myself being strapped into a back seat of the van with my own barf bag this time. Plus an extra one. Crispin takes off into the city shortly after the chopper heads over it. A fighter is fallowing and opens fire on something in a field. I hope it's to distract the infected, they barely shot any rounds off. It takes Crispin another 50 minutes but he's back and we're driving home in the dark. I hope everything is still there when we get back. Nelle spends the whole trip talking to me, forcing me to keep my eyes open. There so heavy and all I want to do is sleep but I keep answering questions. Simple yes or no for the most part. Darin keeps looking at my eye balls and Ryan has to help me stay seated. I did major damage to my brain again. At this rate staying alive is going to fry my brain before the virus gets a chance too.

Back home I find out me made off like bandits, mostly supplies and less food then I would like but it's better then nothing. Supplies can be used to barter with. Right up until we enter and find we got raided while we were away. We now have less then we started with. Darin and Anissa attempted to hide most of it, leaving scraps out, but I guess some of it was found anyway. He's wicket pissed at finding his make shift lab has been torn apart again. At least his new equipment wasn't ruined and non of his chemicals seem to be missing. They had all the fancy labels on them, so no doubt most of those brutes wouldn't know what half of them were for. Hell I'm not a brute and I don't know what most of them are for. The weapon cases down in the basement show signs of tampering but the locks held. Anissa is creeped out by something but won't say anything about why. Yvonna is unharmed thankfully, but she got a chunk of someone out of the deal. She chews on something dripping chunky red bits and I refrain from throwing up again. Nope, just walking away from that. Ryan's not happy but I guess it's something solid in her system. Too bad humans are not meant to eat other humans, that may end up upsetting her stomach in the long run.


	16. Chapter 16

Come morning Lucas is cranky again about the lack of food, dispite all the work we did. By lunch time Darin is up in Crispin's face about something. Nelle gets into an argument with Sky. Amilia at least is up and walking around on her own now. Yaaaa for her. We leave Bishop another message but he doesn't call back that night, or the next day. No choppers show up either. It was a plea for food after finding out the house rummaged throu but let them know we understood if they didn't have anything to spare. Back to square one, no matter how many steps forwards we take, we always end up right back here.

"Mathew?" Dad watches me make my way around the house, letting the walls hold me up. "Not every plan will go as we please."

I snap back at him, unimpressed with his calm demeanor right now. "None of the plans have been going as we pleased."

"Mathew" He tries again and I snap once more.

"This is bullshit and you know it. Those ass hats lulled us out, made us do all the heavy lifting and took us for broke here. We should have taken the intel and done it on our own."

"Mathew"

"What?"

"Your eyes" He points at the mirror beside me. Shit. I stomp my foot for good measure before heading out to the barn. Darin looks at me as I half stumble in. I take one look at Yvonna and stick my arm inside her cage, she screams at me pointing back at Darin, get him first.

"Shit" Darin watches me thump down on the mattress in another cage.

"Yep." I can't even pull myself up to close the door. He ends up having to do it for me. I let my arm hang out the cell, unable to get up. My head is heavy, my eyes burn. My legs and arms are like lead, the blood in my veins is sluggish. Sky barges into the barn several steps ahead of Ryan. She hits the floor crying as Ryan cusses me out. "So not something he could have stopped forever."

"Yes he should have. He's too stupid to be taken over."

"I resent that." I let Sky take my hand and feel numb. I so didn't want to be the second one down. "Don't cry." I'm gonna toss my lunch. Am I about to turn or am I over thinking it? "It's okay Sky, I'm sure Darin will have this figured out soon." She's shaking her head no, tears falling down her face. Her eyes are scrunched tight and shoulders shaking. She's upset about this. "I'm sure..." She turns and tosses her breakfast, convulsing on us. "SKY!" Ryan gently picks her face and up to turns it to the side.

"Interesting." Darin waits for the shaking to stop, making sure she doesn't hit anything or break herself in anyway. He takes a pen light out and shines it in her eyes. I can see there bloodshot as well. "Too much emotional stress has her turning on us as well, Ryan can you get the cage door for me please." Yvonna is screaming at us...

...wait that's "Look out!" I reach seeing the shadow over Darin as Ryan turns around and throws himself back at them as the new guy throws himself at Darin and Sky. Ryan misses going too high as the new guy tackles Darin out of Sky's way. Her jaw snaps shut on empty air, before she can move Ryan has rotated and shrimped in, locking her head into place. She gets to claw at his arms before Darin scrambles to stop her. "Sorry Yvonna" I reach my arm over and make her head connect with the cell bars, she's dazed as she hits the ground.

"Open the door" Darin kicks the keys at the new guy, so he scrambles for my cell and yanks it open. Ryan has to shuffle slightly but get's up keeping Sky's head still.

"No more biting for you Missy" He walks her in letting her nails dig into his arms. I put my arm in the way and she stops. Without looking down she stops and won't scratch my arms up. Ryan nods at me, shoving her my way before bouncing out of the cage. I grab her as the door slams shut again. "Thanks" Darin nods at the new guy.

"No problem. Brant feels bad about yesterday. I was sent to apologies." We snort at this and he rubs the back of his head. "Okay, so he doesn't really feel sorry, but those of us that went out made a fuss in town about it. You guys held your own better then we did, it would be wrong to toss allies and other non infected away like that. Two in one go, that's a heavy loss for you guys I bet."

"You were not there yesterday" Ryan growls at him. "All the men that came out looked like me or bigger." I eye ball the new guy, he's lean and tall like Darin.

"Oh I was out there, I wasn't apart of the fighting. I don't fight, I do recon jobs. Often solo ones too."

"Why?"

"Extra rations for the dangerous stuff." We glare at him, non infected get past out defenses fine apparently. "It was my intel Brant messed up on you guys. That's why I was so mad about it. I gave clear numbers, and a layout of the town with general idea about what was wear and how much they should have. The town fell in a few hours after the first news broadcast. I bet there's tons more if we took a second crack at it. Just call your army buddies in again."

Darin scowls at this, his head twitching to the side, someone is outside the barn doors. "We can't reach them at the moment. Those choppers need a lot of fuel, they only bring them out in dire needs. As it is we would have been toast had they not shown up when they did." Ryan takes a step back, incheing towards the mini fridge that Gorge hide his explosive bottles in. Yvonna starts screaming again and Sky lashes out, trying to reach them through the cage bars. "Sorry Yvonna." He reaches into a mostly empty container and gets a needle out, Yvonna snarls at him, backing away into her corner. When he goes to shh's her she starts screaming again. She's not looking so I take the second needle from Ryan and stick it home. She's out for the count and Darin moves to get an iv set up for her. At least she's getting something.

"We should have made these smaller." I look at Darin thinking about it.

"Too much work now."

"She's out cold, move her in here with us, make that two cells and move us back over there."

"Rip that one down and build two more a slight distance away so I can get samples and give out meds. I like it."

"I don't" Ryan glares at them. "That's a lot of manual labor your wanting us to do when we're already short people."

"and supplies" Lucas rounds the corner. "Who's that?"

"Friend" His arms shoot up into the air in surrender spotting the swords.

"That is yet to be determined" dad walks in the back door. "and you are?"

"Oh, where are my manors. The names Dale, I worked for Brant but am currently out on my own after speaking agents him last night."

Dad's all deadpan and unimpressed "and you decided to come all this way to tell us that why?"

"Information is pricey. But I know Brant had this place combed over after getting the all clear. So all the food you had seems to be gone and you walked away from the raid with less then your share of the food. Brant's not a bad guy, just hungry and scared."

"Drowning men pull their saviors down with them." Dale looks as confused as I felt the first time hearing that.

"It means he doomed himself by dooming us." Darin answers, making Dale nod in understanding.

"That makes sense now. Anyway, I'm passing through, thought you might like to go get your stuff back from Brant."

"No" dad shakes his head at this idea. "Brant out numbers us, and that is not how we work, we will find more food, plus the garden should be giving us something soon."

"Very well... in that case, there's a farm about a day away, it had live animals and a root cellar. You could probably raid it and get some of your stash back."

"How are the animals still alive? Infected like to kill them for making nose."

"I said there was live animals, whoever was there was about to turn, they may have done it and killed the animals by now."

"And why doesn't Brant know about this easy picking spot"

"He does, no ones willing to go that far out to take a second look"

"How generous of you"

"It's a small pay back for what Brant did to you guys, but the best I can do"

"Information is pricey, would you care to join us for the night? After being surrounded by walls you may find it hard to adjust to not having such safety nets"

He snorts waving this away. "I came and went from that town all the time, staying long enough to gas up, fill up and find the next assignment. I've spent almost no time with others or in a secure location."

"You should find company soon thou." Anissa stands at the edge of the barn, peeping out from behind Nelle. "Humans are not meant to go long periods of time without social contact. They tend to become unhinged the longer their alone."

He blinks at this, staring at them for a long moment. "Damn, you are lucky guys. Brant and the other boys we're always looking for female companionship, but it was always an option. I'd keep a close eye on them if you don't want anyone grabbing them. From what I hear the bad guys to the west of us grabbed and ran, weather she liked it or not." If he stars at Anissa any harder I may feel like i'm watching something I shouldn't be. "That does explain the hermit behaviors. I will keep that in mind and find a buddy soon."

"What do you know about the infection?" Anissa stands a little closer and I watch Darin's shoulder get tighter. Chill buddy, she's not going anywhere.

"Just what the news told us." He leans to the side trying to flex what he has. It's an rookie move and one Anissa will not fall for. Darin's shoulders climb a bit more, never figured him for the jealous type. Something seems off about this situation.

"Well" Anissa tilts her head as she tucks a strained of hair behind her ear. I'm at first shocked at the obvious flirtation movement and almost don't school my own face in time. Darin's not mad, just worried, she's totally playing him for more information. "There's a lot more to it then that. Come inside for a bit and we can trade off more information if you'd like?" Darin's gonna need an iron strong will to match however far she's willing to go to get the information. I hope they talked about it at some point in time or she's about to get into a lot of trouble for that move.

Dale does a side glance as Darin's viable tension and the games done before it's started. "Naa, I should be fine." He backs up a few steps and runs into dad.

"No we insist. Information is pricey, but sending you off without proper intel on the enemy would be rude of us after the gracious information you provided."

"Plus" Anissa steps back around Nelle acting shy again. "A good nights sleep is essential right now."

"Oh?" Dale ignores Darin and walks after Anissa.

"Darin" Mathew calls out to me, poor guy is gonna miss this, I wish I could. "She's playing him, keep that in mind"

"I know, do you need anything, like anything at all?"

He chuckles at me, knowing what I'm delaying. "Not so good at hiding it. A blanket or two would be nice."

"No problem, I have a stash out here for colder nights." He doesn't need them, he's helping me to avoid what Anissa is up too inside. I'll let it all pass if they gain anything good out of him.

"Hey Darin, how many times did you fall asleep out here when we we're gone?"

"Too many to be healthy I'm sure" I rummage through my boxes, grumpy to see a few of my better one's gone. "Don't tell Anissa that, she'll have my head."

"I'd have your head for that but kinda stuck in here at the moment." He's grinning at least, I hand the blankets over and can't think of anything else to delay going inside. "Do you mind taking the I.V out when it's done? I may not get back out before she wakes up." It'll make retrieving it harder, hopefully she doesn't wreak it.

"No problem. Don't break Dale. Don't get mad at Anissa. He opened himself up to all this by gawking like a creep."

"I make no promises about Dale." I walk out of the barn with his laugh fallowing after me. At least he's in good sprites. Inside the house Anissa is leaning towards Dale who's leaning back at her. Another copy cat move to show interest. She never flirted this hard with me. I'm pouting as I walk in, I see it in the mirror by the door. When did that get there? I pause seeing their alone in the living room. Lucas and Nelle are in the kitchen, Ryan's door is open and the shower is going. Ryan never leaves his room door open, so he's in there with almost a direct shot out into the living room, dad must be in the shower.

Dale lets his arm creep closer to Anissa's. "I was out camping when the world fell apart. That makes so much sense now. Everyone was always going on about taking their vitamins and not doing anything but rest with even the slightest sniffle. I thought they we're all lazy or something. Guess I should stock up on meds and take better care of myself from now on." He smiles trying to grab her eye but she's still playing shy. Someone likes the chase.

"Yaa, I wouldn't want anything bad happening to you after everything. You've been lucky so far avoiding getting sick and all that."

"Not even a sniffle?" I interrupt them. Odd, even the best immunity system would have had something by now. If he's been in and out of the town for months now he should have caught a little something by now. "Maybe you have some kind of immunity to this?"

"Is that even a thing?" Dale takes the interruption better then I thought he would. Anissa pulls away looking excited by the idea.

"Yes! It is possible, some people's immune systems are excellent at fighting some things off. It's why colds and flus effect people differently, even if it's the same mutation strain."

"Could I be carrying a potential anti-bodies around and not even know it?" Dale looks up at me. "They say your working on a cure, are you?"

"I am trying, but so far all my samples have been lost, contaminated or not viable. Would you mind if I took a sample?" I don't want to leave them alone but I need to look less concerned about them getting close... and watching him leaning in closer to her is getting to me again.

"No not at all! I want this end of the world thing to be stopped asap."

"Cool, I'll be right back." I walk out again, find Mathew talking with Sky and nod as I walk by them. "Dale hasn't been sick, apparently not even a little bit since this all started."

Mathew nods taking a moment to think about this. "Either he's full of it, or he's got anti-bodies."

"Lots of them. I'm grabbing a sample from him encase." Mathew goes back to talking to Sky as I head back to the house. Finding Dale sitting beside Anissa trying to grab her eye and hand makes me see red. He's too close, where's father? He should be stopping this. I'm going to act the part of the angry boyfriend and blow this all to hell. Lucas walks down stairs and intercepts me.

"Darin, Nelle isn't feeling so well do you mind if I borrow Anissa for a moment and you can keep our guest company?"

"Sure." Oh thank you! I'd hug my brother but that may be over kill.

"Anissa?" Lucas looks back at her, eyes narrowing on the lack of space between them.

"Coming, it was nice talking with you Dale." She smiles and extracts herself from his half wrapped around her already arms.

I think my eye is twitching at this, he doesn't look too happy at being left alone with me. "So." I hold my hand out as he resists giving me his arm for a moment. "It's only a needle, a small sample is all I need. I'll slid it under my scoop and find out fast enough if there's any chance at anti-bodies. Immunity may need a larger sample to find out for sure." He finally relents his arm and I miss his vein the first time on purpose. "Sorry, my aim was a little off"

"It happens, not everyone can be good at everything." he still winces as I stab the needle back in a second time, a little harder then I needed to. I'm being petty. Anissa didn't mean any of it, I know that. Still I'm a little hurt over it. "She's pretty" I pause waiting to see if I blew it all to hell or not. "I'm not sticking around, but I don't see her leaving to keep me company. Move on that before someone else does." I blink looking at him. Seriously? "It's pretty clear you like her, ask her out man." It takes every ounce of muscle control I possess to not smile at him in a mocking way. I already did that, but thanks man. "She's also smart, I didn't understand half of the words she was using. But I bet you can just fine."

"Yes I can, Anissa and I we're in the same grade back in school, many of the same classes too."

"You'r faces we're on the news stations, when I saw you guys leaving yesterday I recognized you." I startle at this, crap I gave her a kiss after the battle, holding way too tight to just be friends. He laughs at me. "She's not that good at acting. But it was almost enough to fool me. Had I not seen you two before I would have believed the lie. Your a better man then me for not giving it away sooner or pounding my face in." I can't think of anything as he laughs at me some more. "Don't be mad at her man, she was digging for information and I gave that opening up. I stared a little too long and opened my mouth without thinking first."

"She is something to behold." I muse finally. "I'm not mad at her, desperate times call for desperate measures and information is pricey."

"Indeed." he relaxes finally."So what does vapid mean?"

I blink trying to think of a nice way to put it but come up with nothing. "... It means flat and dull"

"So how vapid of you was not a complement." I shake my head no at this. "I thought my adventures outdoors would be interesting, apparently not."

"She is a city girl, thru and thru."

"Then a back water boy like me is very vapid indeed. Look mom I learned something new today." I chuckle at this, at least he's not taking it hard. Back water boy my ars. "She had me going for a moment, she never flirted with me like that."

"No?" He look impressed at first then worried. "Flirted, not flirting?" his eyebrow goes sky high and my face fall. "...You already ask her out. A better man for sure, I'd have flipped out seeing my girl acting like that."

"Desperate times" I nod to myself. "You are welcome to stay the night, staying healthy is top priority these days and it's looking like a cold night out there already. Plus Brant is out there, he may get testy about the uprising you may have started."

"Hmmm, I never thought about that. A couch is a better and safer sleeping space for the night then a tree."

"Less likely to be surrounded by infected while you sleep too." He chuckles with me as Anissa comes back out. "Babe, wanna run these under the scoop with me? Two eyes are better then one"

She falters in her steps as Dale waves it away. "Go play with the science geek, I'm sure it's less vapid then outdoor brawls with other boys."

"Science geek? I prefer the term intellectual bad-ass thank you very much."

"Did you tell him?" my head whips around to look at her. "You totally gave it away didn't you! I put a lot of effort into that mister!" Feeling like this might be one of those times, I surrender with raising arms attempting to look meek. "It took a lot of effort and self restraint I'll have you know to toss my hair like that. You know how I feel about farms and the outdoors. And here I am out at your mothers farm, out in the boonies. Without an internet connection or a decent shower in months now." I can almost feel Dale getting ready to bail on me too as she winds up to keep going at me.

"Anissa." Lucas leans on the walls and I sag in relieve. "He totally gave it up but Dale was figuring it out on his own too. Your not that good at acting." I would hate him for giving me up like that but he's giving me an escape route as she turns on him instead. As one Dale fallows behind me as I book it out the back door.

"Too close" Dale huffs as we come to a stop inside the barn doors.

"Way too close, I owe Lucas something fierce for that."

"Older brother?"

"Oldest"

"Oh you owe him big time buddy." Mathew is sitting there looking at us. "Why am I not turning yet? I haven't even gotten sick"

"No?" I place Dales samples down and grab another needle. "Maybe it's the enzyme. It slows everything down."

"Why didn't it work on Sky then?"

"I don't know. Maybe she was further along into her infection. Maybe her system just gave out."

"Enzyme?" Dale leans back on the barn frame to take a look around us. "You city folk are weird."

"Oh." I debate telling him then let it go, he needs to work on his country hick accent. "Information is pricey... but here" I take Mathews sample and put it down beside the scoop as I take another needle out. "A college of mine created this enzyme, it helps fight off the infection. Did you want the shot? It means your less likely to turn if your bite."

"That sounds amazing, why isn't it being mass produced yet?" He sticks an arm out for me.

"It's not a cure. It helps slow it down, it doesn't even work all the time. It could do nothing for you. You seem healthy I doubt it will have much effect on you."

"Darin?" Mathew's eyes dart between the two of us.

"Yaa I know it's the last one but he's being helpful, we shouldn't send him out there without something to show for it all. Recon won't help him if he doesn't start stealing his own food, he'll need a base of operations now, a safe place to return too. That sets him up for dealing with bandits and other people stealing his stuff too."

"It's okay" Dale waves this away. "I can make it out in the mountains for a week on my own with extreme weather I think I can learn to stay safe down on the ground too."

"Maybe we should help you set up first, this could be a half way point for you till your all set on your own. We know lots about defense perimeters and how to build them. It took four of us a week with proper tools, a single person could take months..."

"Darin, it's okay, I won't need anything this big. Your protective barer is what gave this location away. It screams someone is inside and trying to stay safe."

"The barricade around was to keep the infected out while we slept."

"You weren't counting on humans showing up way out here then."

"No this late into the game no."

"It's okay, I'll chill for the night and make this a half way point till I can find and set myself up someone not too far. Backup is always a good idea right?"

"Right." I smile to my self as I slip a sample under the scoop. "Okay Mathew your up first, lets see why your not turning." I glance down then sit back up with the sound of approaching foot falls. Mathew's eyes dart to the back door and Dale goes ridged when the sounds of people arguing reach our ears. A pair of boys walk into the back half of the barn, but their busy between themselves.

Dale shakes his head no at me and I nod to let him know I saw it. "Excuse me?" I call out startling them both. "This is still private property." I know they are not infected, they were talking, but watching them stand their dumb founded looking back at me is getting on my nerves. "Yes we're still here, no we're not infected. Can you please tell me why you are on my property?"

"Umm, sorry man. We didn't know anyone was still hanging around these parts. We saw the fences and thought this might be a safe place for the night."

"No, you thought it might be a safe place for the night. I still think we should head back to Brant."

"Don't do that" Dale's face sours when they spot him. They look terrified of him. I would agree with them, but I know my family is on the other side of those doors. Him being here was a huge give away that Brant is still casing our place, hoping to find what he missed last time. These idiots tipped it all off. They were probably suppose to be waiting for his signal and messed it all up. "I upset the balance back there and he's right cranky with everyone over it."

I'm starting to think he's the bad guy from out west of the town. He's well feed, he's still in good shape with no scars or nothing. For someone that's been doing recon and mixing it up with infected on a regular bases he certainly has gotten away without a scratch for a very long time. The guys don't know how to react in this situations. "It's okay" I wave it away with a smile on my face, gotta save this if I can. "If you need a safe place to stay we can make up a spare bed for you guys." They relax at this.

"Oh that would be great man, I'm exhausted, got anything to eat by any chance?"

"Kinda" I answer. "It's not much and the best cook in the house is about to turn on us so you gotta deal with my cooking for the time being."

"I'm sure it's better then anything else I've been eatin lately." The guy waves it off as I nod at this.

"Hold on a few minutes. I need to check a few things out first then I'll let everyone inside know we got a few extras tonight." I sit back down and put my face to the scoop. This is in-fact Dales sample not Mathews. As I suspected he's not immune, he's not even in that good of shape. I dab a sample of infection I got hanging around and watch his red blood cells get their asses handed to them. He's barley had any contact with infected. If anything he's at a higher risk of turning being around Yvonna then I would be sticking my arm in and letting her chew on it for a while. "Well Matt I think it's your own body fighting it off better then Sky's." A slight of the hand trick later has his sample under the scoop for me. His red blood cells are holding their own, it's the enzyme kicking it and helping him fight back. But their still losing. "I'll be back with something to eat okay, keep Sky warm." I wave the guys forwards with me and watch Dale take lead with them. They almost cower behind him. "Those must have been some scary things you took on and walked away from?" I nod back at the guys trying to hid their fear and failing.

"Yaa, that town job was the craziest one yet. I think they all had bets going on how fast I would die. Made a nice meal for myself with all the winnings I got." His charming self is back in full swing and I smile as if I'm fooled by it still.

"Your crazy man, but desperate times and what not. Hey dad? We got a few more for tonight. Guess Brant is having himself a hissy fit." I'm nice and loud for everyone to hear, as if it's normal to yell across the house at each other Ryan yells back from the basement.

"How many more beds do I gotta pull up?"

"What was that Ryan?" Nelle bellows from upstairs. "I don't think the infected herd you from the next state over"

"Seriously?" Dad enters from the kitchen, his voice goes up an octave. "It's called walking across the house and talking to each other instead of yelling how many times do I have to tell you two that!" It's such a normal thing to see and hear in homes across the world that all three of them relax all at once. In reality if this was our home back before all this madness happened dad would have our hides for a month for even talking too loudly in the house. Never mind yelling. But I'm willing to bet Anissa and Lucas have to get back into the house and we need to cover up any sounds they may make. So I sigh with as much irritation as I can muster as loud as I can.

"Daaaaad! We need two more Ryan." I can hear him muttering from down stairs as he starts pushing things around and making a lot of nose. Almost too much, as if he's having to dig far into the back to get them out. I can hear someone getting out of bed up stairs and know where Anissa is, that's coming from my room. I see Lucas from the corner of my eye stealth-ing past the front porch. He's going to be cranky at having to do this after everything else going on right now. They are surrounded and may not know it yet. I can hear Ryan dragging something up the stairs, it is a bed but that's cover for him.

"They know!" Dale bounces out of the way as the one guy draws a gun I missed.

Dad tackles me out of the way as the first round is fired. I watch it hit the mattress coming up the stairs and freak out

"RYAN!" Anissa comes flying down the stairs with Nelle providing cover fire. I have never seen their face contorted with rage before. An arrow fly's by my head and someone screams from behind me. Lucas bull rushes past me as dad gets up off the floor, he drags himself around the couch and I spot the blood trail. "Dad?" Anissa yanks me off the floor

"Darin?"

"Dad!" I point back and she flings herself around the same corner. I need to give her time to deal with dad's wounds, I grab the naginta from her and charge in after Lucas. One man down with an arrow in his eye. Really Nelle, a head shot? She does excel at those but it is the stab wound to his chest that caused his other eye to glaze over in death. Lucas has the second unknown guy pinned and by the time I spot Dale he's already out the door and making a break for the tree line. I'm about to opt to stay behind when dad shouts at me.

"Don't let him leave!"

"I got it" Ryan barrels past me, I case after him. Dale is cunning and Ryan could be injured. Ryan puts on a burst of speed and tackles the poor guy to the ground. Their both out of breath when I come to a stand still with the blade pointed down above them. Dale freezes, going cross eyed trying to keep the blade point in his field of vision."Okay" Ryan puffs at this. "What does Brant want?"

"Brant is dead" Dale answers him. "I made sure of it this time. I made sure to get this location out of him first."

"Try again" I lean in closer and flick my wrist. He hisses as the thin line fills with blood. "You've had almost no contact with the infected, Brant on the other hand..."

"Brant was my pawn. He got caught stealing food from the stores again."

That I can believe. "Your smart enough to be in charge, your healthy enough to be higher up, but I doubt your the main man. Your his right hand at best."

"Fuck you man"

"Back water boy like me? You have city boy written all over you. Your wearing stalwart sneakers, something a farm boy would never wear cuz they cost $300 plus."

Ryan whistles at this. "Them some fancy smancy boots you got there for a farm boy. But it's your eyes that gave it away. Anissa missed it cuz she had her head bowed trying for shy girl, but they flinched at being called boring."

"Vapid means dull not boring." Dale looks up at me. "It was dumb and dumber that gave it away first."

"While their fear of you was something hard to miss, no it was the way you we're staring at Anissa that altered us."

"Then why leave me alone with her?"

"She works best unsupervised" I wave it away.

"She gave it up when I tried for a kiss. Not bad but I could tell she was fishing for intel. A back water boy would have fallen for it but not me. I'm too damn smart to fall for that."

"And this?" Ryan micro picks him up and slams him back into the dirt

"A miss calculation, they happen from time to time. I won't be making that mistake again."

"Damn rights you won't be" My arms go up and I go over. My head bounces off the dirt and the world spins. Oh damn, no wonder Lucas puked. Something digs in deep and the scream tear it's way out of my mouth. Claws dig in and my head gets smashed back into the ground. Ryan bellows out, the ringing in my ears get louder. A wet drop hits my forehead before I'm being dragged back towards the house. Then the slender arms around my waist disappear. I'm going up and over before everything goes black.


	17. Chapter 17

"Nobody move!" I freeze in my spot as Dale screams the warning out. Darin is limp and out for the count with a gun pressed to his head. Again. If dad doesn't make him do a 100 flips next practice I will. Then for fun I'll make him do a 100 more. " pants is coming with us. You have till sun up to find or make more of that enzyme and bring it to me. Along with the girls."

"I don't think so" Nelle pulls back and I flip out on her.

"Arrows are not faster then bullets!"

"I know" She swings out wide and Anissa stops in her tracks two steps away with an arrow aimed right at her head. "No way Darin will allow that, and I'd sooner die then hand my self over to the likes of you"

Anissa is cool, calm, collected and totally unfazed with having a weapon aimed at her. Her voice steady and cold, as if she doesn't care about her own life being in danger. "A bullet would be faster, an arrow won't pierce my skull. Take aim at my neck, the artier is right here. If I'm not dead by the time I hit the ground make sure to finish the job." They nod at me and I pull a chunk of hair out. Darin would never forgive me. "I'm not going with them."

"Neither am I" Nelle stands firm and looks back at me. "Make it quick and get your brother back"

My heart threatens to give out then thumps so harshly it hurts. "How could you ask that of me?"

"Not even to save him?" Dale cuts Nelle's answer off looking at Anissa while pressing the gun in harder.

Still cool and calm she looks him right in the eye, a challenge of sorts. "Once you have us you'll kill him, then probably the rest of them. I will not be used for someone's entertainment. I sure as shit won't be used as a bargaining chip. Darin will understand."

"How can you be so sure of that?" Dale lest the gun drop an inch as he awaits the answer.

"Because I would understand it if he felt that was the only option left to him. He would never give himself up like that to see me die. I can do no less then that. I can accept a fast fate at a friends hand, not a slow tormented one at an enemies. I will accept the mercy shown by Nelle, I will not accept what you have in store for me."

I crack around the edges. She's right, their both right. I yank the second sword out and step between them. They stand perfectly still as I place the sharp blade next to their necks and we're stuck in a stand off. Ryan to my left better pull his eyes back into their sockets and snap too.

"You wouldn't kill them." Dale mocks me.

"I will not let you harm them. I will not allow you to disgrace, or dis-honor them. That is their wish." God I hope he sucks at chicken more then I do.

"You don't even known what..."

I freak at this, voice getting louder and tighter as my nerves threaten to give. "I got a pretty damn good idea what you want and I will not let it happen." Please don't make me do this. The rift between brothers would never be mended after such an event. Even if Darin would agree or understand the drastic measures.

Anissa clears her throat, cutting herself and making my eye twitch. "There is no enzyme here, the one who created it has become infected. When she went down she took the formula with her. Plus we would need a fully functioning lab to make more. We do not have the two key components, we could never make it and finding it our selves could take months. What you ask is not possible. What you offer is death. I am simply choosing to go out now and not later." Anissa holds firm but Nelle is shaking. I have to focus forwards on Darin or I may drop and loss the game. I have to stay strong, I have to stand here threatening peoples lives hoping to save them. It would be a fate worse then death to be at his mercy. It's the only thing keeping these swords raised at the moment.

Something goes pop a bunch of times and all three men in front of me go down, dropping poor Darin on his head again. I freeze at first before dropping my swords and yanking the girls in closer to me, trying to cover them up.

"Sniper!" Ryan confirms before helping me to provide cover even as he yells at them."Don't ever do that to him again!"

Anissa hiss back at him. "In a heart beat if the options are the same"

"Later" Nelle yanks Anissa in closer to the center. "Who killed them?"

"Relax" Bishop answers walking out of the bushes and I nearly cry at the sight of him. "We got your call but the compound is down. I'm currently relocating everyone to a safer place. I was hoping you might have a few extra rations or know a good place to try and hit up. But it would seem I need to divert a few men to help you guys as well."

"Kandace?" I know I shouldn't be the one to ask that, but I need to know if she's okay.

"Still with us. Mr. Sabb turned in his study while I was away before everyone was locked away for the night. By the time we got back he had spreed the infection across half the compound and was biting people like mad. Turns out when that enzyme gives out, it gives out in a spectacular way. Why is Mathew locked up with Yvonna and Sky?"

"His eyes went blood shot, for safety reasons he went to the cages. Sky freaked out and turned on us right there."

"Mathew is fine to come out. The enzyme will keep him fighting for a while longer, weeks or even months. Only after you toss your lunch do you need to worry about it. Okay, Darin needs to work on not getting knocked out"

I choke on the laugh, then caught to clear my throat. "I'll be sure to tell him you said that."

"People love pointing guns at his head and using him as bait, he needs to work on his skills. He hits hard, I'll give him that. My jaw still hurts from time to time."

"I'll be sure to tell him that too. Our new friends hit our place up at the same time as the town raid, we lost more then we got."

"Damn. Maybe I should leave some men with you anyway."

"Sir" One of his men approached with a sniper rifle with a nod to me. "Someone is approaching the front gate. Hands up already. Just the one man."

"Okay, lets tend to your wounded, I'll handle the front gate"

I start walking beside him nodding the others inside. "Nelle lookout, Ryan front door, Anissa ..." I wave her away she'll do her thing and look after everyone for me. "Don't mind me, I can't face them right now."

"Understandable. Seems I keep coming by in the nick of time. And for a chance not announcing my presence with the choppers. I had to come by land and heard all the nose from the next farm over. Sorry we couldn't get into postilion faster to take the threat down before such drastic measures were taken."

"The worst kind was avoided. I'm not sure Darin would ever forgive me for killing Anissa."

"They had a point thou. Better by your hands then by his. Dale Hall, a real nasty piece of scum. Before the infection he was a small time wanna-be mobster. He was on a wanted list I saw somewhere. Rap sheet wasn't long but he had tons of flunky to do his dirty work. He was broken out of jail a few days before the news hit and managed to stay hidden in the chaos I caused. Just another nail in my coffin I guess."

"You were doing your job and what you thought was best. No one will blame you for that, no one that matters in the end. So who do we have here." I watch the guy being pulled forwards and ponder for a moment, he looks familiar. His hood is pulled back and I recognize him even in the fading light. "You where there, at the town."

He nods seeing me. "I had to come warn you guys, about Dale. He looks like a good guy but he's the worst kind."

"Too late" I shove a hand up in his face. "He's laying dead some feet back that way. Why are you here?"

"To warn you, Dale was his right hand man, he's moving in on everything around here. He's trying to claim most of the land as his and imposed a food tax on everyone. You either help or you get taken down." He chokes on me, taking a knee and I spot the marks around his neck. The deep red bruising would suggest he was choked out. "He killed Brant after he refused. He had just taken in months worth of food for our people, he wasn't about to let it all go without a fight. As he realized we were losing he sent me towards you guys. We didn't realize he had separated from his men to come after you guys personally. I think he was hoping to recruit you, I'm hoping you didn't fall for his scam."

"Nope, saw it coming a mile a away after you guys raided our home."

"What!" His head jerks up at this. "No! We did no such thing, several suggested it but Brant wouldn't do that. You took out one of our best fighters without him lifting a finger. It would be a bad idea to piss you off, the farm was left off limits. It must be Mac's men."

"The bad guys to the west of you?" I haven't heard that name yet.

"Correct. We suspected one of his men had infatuated us but couldn't prove it. I guess till now, for all the good it did us."

"How many got out of the town?"

"As far as I know right now. Just me. I'm set to meet up with any others come night fall tomorrow in a back up place we have."

"It wouldn't happen to be about 4 hour drive to the north of here would it?"

"Yaa, how did you know?"

"Because Dale knew about it. Offered it up as a thank you for not killing him. I think your people are waking into a trap."

"No! He jumps up and stars running for the tree line.

"You'll never make it by foot"

"Lilly maybe on her way there, I gotta try!"

"Who's Lilly?"

"My wife!"

"Wait!" Bishop calls out to him. "I have a truck, give me a few minutes and I can send you in with some military men and guns!" This makes the guy stop in his tracks.

"Even after everything else we did?"

"Drowning men." Bishop shakes his head looking at me.

"Yaa I can't let him go alone either. I swear if this is another trap I'm gonna kill someone because I can."

"Duly noted." He waves the guy back to us. "It'll only take a few minutes, chill here with us while my men pull a few strings okay."

"I need to eat something before another battle or I'll be useless."

Inside the house he's twitching, glancing at the door, half turned away from us. Eyes darting around, half taking off before sitting back down. Maybe he really does have a wife and he's worried about her but I didn't see a single woman at the town so I'm holding judgment. Once in the truck he's even worse, the closer we get to this location the more tense he becomes. It's a tangible thing in the air, white knuckle grip on the door, seat belt strained as far forward as it can get. Eyes darting around looking for something. The closer we get with no sign of anyone the more upset he gets. His eyes are locked forward but I make out his whispered plea, it's enough to convince me that this is not a set up. "She has to be alright." The truck rolls to a stop and only my hand on his arm prevents him from jumping out.

"Running around screaming won't help locate Lilly, fallow Bishop's lead. He's found plenty before in worse situations." He nods but takes point with the guns. I see his point, if the military men waltz up with weapons drawn someone could open fire first. With him up there as well they may see the friendly face before that happens. Still, my knees protest at being in a low crouch for so long.

Anissa is to my right, Nelle and Darin my left. Ryan is watching over Mathew after being allowed back out and dad is standing guard over it all with a few men as back up. Darin refused to let me leave with the girls as my back up. Or rather I think he refuses to let Anissa out of his sight. I don't blame him, I am half tempted to pull Nelle in behind me or make her get back in the truck. I would never hear the end of it if I pulled that. So I double my efforts to keep an eye on everything around me. It leaves my head spinning. Bishop signals to stop and I stop Anissa from taking a step ahead of me. She backs up half the step and waits for me to peel away from the main group. We're sent out to the west while Bishop sends a few out to the east, him and the guy take the house head on. We get to keep an eye on the outside and watch for any incoming people. I make a large circle around the house and take up posts in the trees. It feels odd to tell Nelle to stay with Darin but if I pull her into the same tree as me I'll be distracted. Darin is not happy with me. I can almost hear the mental onslaught of words flung in my direction. Good thing looks can't kill. Odds are no one's hear and no one's coming. But I keep an eye out. "Stay here, I'll be right back" Anissa nods at this, resettling herself in her spot as I jump towards the roof. I almost don't stick my landing and get chewed out for the sloppiness of it by Bishop waiting inside the room. "It happens to the best of us."

"No it doesn't. Or you wouldn't be one of the best."

Damn, he has a point. I roll my eyes and wave him on. "The house is clear or I wouldn't be here. I didn't spot anyone on the roads coming in."

"The house is clear, but all the supplies are still in their hiding place, so no one has made it here yet."

That guy is outside the door, I can hear him pacing in the hallway. "He was sent ahead, maybe he just got here first?"

Bishop gives me a dirty look for this. "Or more likely no one else is coming because they are all dead."

The foot steps pauses outside and I glare at Bishop for that. "The others are probably on foot, it will take a better part of a day to get here. Or do you want to back track and see if we find any on the roads?"

The door creeks open. "They will stay off the roads and won't approach any unknown people or cars. It was a safety thing Brant had in place after finding out about the guys to the west of us. It's why the woman go indoors till we know who we're dealing with. On more then one occasion they attempted to steal Lilly from me."

I nod understanding now. "That's why everyone went around with fully loaded guns."

"Most were not loaded, there for show because we were running out of bullets. Mac knew that, it's probably why he attacked. Brant was suppose to clear that town out for Mac's people, take what he could and leave the rest. In exchange for clearing the town Mac would supple us with more bullets."

I shake my head but it's Bishop the groans out. "And by bartering for bullets he let his enemy know he was low on ammo."

"He should have asked for help. We would have given it."

"We didn't know that. Mac was not happy about the amount we took. He wanted a few of the woman as an equal payment. Brant refused..."

"And they opened fire." my head snaps around as a gentle thump lands outside. Anissa taps on the window to be let in.

"People approach." She heads back to her spot and I take off after her while Bishop fallows our guy down stairs. They roll the truck out of the way and wait inside the doors.

To my surprise I see Brant crawl over the ditch first, he has a gun out in front of him and a knife case complete with knife on his outer thigh. He signals two other guys to go wide but before they can break off our guy comes running out yelling

"It's clear!" A woman's head pops out of the bushes and runs towards him. "Lilly!" He almost tackles her when they meet in the middle.

"Gary!" Brant slaps him on the shoulder. "Glad to see you made it after all. Did you warn them?"

"Yes" are guy, or I guess Gary waves up to me. I drop down to the ground and walk up to them. "And after finding out the town was attacked they insisted on making sure this area was still safe for us."

I point out to the north and east of us. "Clear till the tree lines."

Our military guys nod to the west and south. "Clear out there as well. No one was inside and it doesn't seem to have been disturbed in a while."

"It's my grandparents place, not too many people know about this farm land. I figured it was the safest place as a fall back for a reason. I am sorry Lucas. I should have told you what was going on sooner."

"Drowning men." Bishop opens the doors for everyone as a dozen people come out of the bushes. "Is that it?"

"It's all that made it. We lost a bunch on the way here."

"How many did you loss and to what?" I need to know what we may be facing on the way back.

"There was nearly 200 people in that town, we lost half of that when they opened fire. They took the woman that didn't get out fast enough. I lost a dozen on the way here from blood loss. No one turned so the way home should still be clear from infected. We don't deserve your help, but I am more grateful then you probably think I am. I had to send Garry ahead, I didn't know where Lilly was or if she was still alive."

Speaking of, said girl grips her stomach and hits the dirt before we can stop her. Anissa fallows behind the ever present medic on Bishops team to see what's wrong.

"Lilly was pregnant."

"Was?" Garry looks a little panicked at this.

"I'm not sure if she still is or not." Brant moves to help Garry inside while Bishop and I get called over to help carry poor Lilly inside.

"I would have medical supplies to help but someone took all of ours."

"Mac?" Brant looks over at Garry who nods in agreement.

"Sneaked in while we had them busy at the town."

"That bastard knows no bounds. I swear Lucas, your farm was off limits once we found out what was going on."

I still don't believe it but I wave him away. He just lost a lot more then we did. "In the past, right now we need to get your people inside where it's safer, then work out a way to keep this place safe. I have a feeling Mac maybe gunning for the rest of them. I thought you had died in the fight, Dale said he made sure of it personally."

Brant unzips his sweater to reveal several bullet holes in his shirt but no blood. "The vest was bullet proof, it probably won't work a second time."

"Highly unlikely too." The medic shoes most of us out of the room so we stand around for a bit in terribly awkward silence till I rejoin the others outside finally.

"Anissa is helping the pregnant lady, chill." I wave Darin away getting back into the tree. I am so tired but wait with them. An hour later Anissa joins us wiping blood off her hands. That can't be good, but she's in high sprites so I hold my breath.

"They medic thinks Lilly and the baby will be okay. Bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. There was some signs of distress but if she takes it easy they should be fine. Giving birth will be the most dangerous part of this for them. No I didn't get a sample, she was resting and I wasn't about to wake her back up for that."

It's closing in on dawn when Bishop finally lets us rest for a bit. We curl around each other and pass out knowing he's at the door in front of us. I wake up to someone opening the door, Bishop looks at me with an eye ball cracked open looking at him. He places the plates down in front of me and leaves with a nod. I'm guessing it's close to noon, great another late night and early morning. Toast and eggs look good and I sit up dragging the plate closer. Darin's eye crack opens at the sound, his eyes dart to the window, to Anissa pasted out beside him and Nelle beside me. I then have to hold my tong watching him untangle Aniss'a limbs from everywhere. She grew an extra pair of everything from the struggle I just witnessed. She ends up waking up as he sits up and all the extra limbs disappear, she emerges from the blankets looking human but I'm not so sure anymore. Nelle snores lightly in her sleep and Anissa giggles as she stuffs a spoon full in her mouth even as she nudges Nelle's shoulder with her foot. "Wake up sleepy," I shove the foot away as Nelle groans and try's to roll back into the blankets. "Food is here and eggs are gross cold." Her eyes snap open at this, sitting up and mumbling her agreement. I'm positive she's not awake, merely going throw the motions of eating. I'm also positive Darin and Anissa are thinking the same thing as they watch her closely. Most likely monitoring for signs of choking. Sure enough with the food off her plate and in her stomach she flops back over and is sleeping before her head hits the pillow. It's impressive how she can do that, if not the best thing for her waste line. I'm not too worried about it, we're still young and our systems will work over time for her. But come later in life if mom was any indication, is when you suddenly find yourself with parts that jiggle and shouldn't. I wave them off and let her sleep, she's not use to pulling all nighters. Anissa debates going back to sleep but gets pulled away to help with the pregnant lady again. I wounder around with Nelle in the after noon watching Brant's left over people trying to figure out what to do next. Defenses are nice but he's right, they alert people to the presence of other people trying to keep something out. I get twitchy thinking about home, letting my thoughts slip out. "Did we invite trouble to our front step trying to keep it away?"

Nelle pauses mid step thinking about it. "Maybe, but better then letting more dangerous things surround us while we slept." She pauses again finally bring her foot to rest on the ground before taking my hand. "I think they would be better putting something up, all this wide open space worries me. Back at the farm it never did because the infected had trouble getting past what we set up. Here" She waves her arm around us. "...Here their wide open to attack 24-7. Brant pissed the wrong person off, his people paid the price. They may yet pay it again by leaving them self's open like this. At least back home we know only something with some form of intelligence can get past that first defense. Personally I think it up's our odds, we have one less thing to worry about." It helps put my mind at ease for the time being. We turn to the sound of someone yelling, we can't understand them but their waving their arms back and forth. It seems like a clear sign to come in. Till the shot rings out and they drop dead to the ground. One day, I couldn't get one day of peace. I am surrounded by military men and woman. I am surrounded by other survivors of this cluster fuck, and I couldn't get one god-damn day. To make matters worse Nelle left her bow and arrows inside the house. I have no choose, I force her head low and charge us to the closes tree. Then I shove her up into the coverage and hop in next to her. I press us both into the tree as the bullets fly around us. One day, that's all I wanted. Just one day of peace and quite. Without hearing bullets, without seeing blood. Without feeling as useless as swords in a gun fight. Darin! My head snaps around, the image of the house making up for the fact that I can't see it. Nelle trembles beside me.

"What about Darin and Anissa?"

"We can't leave this tree, not till we know there not looking at us anymore. I have to trust Bishop to keep them alive right now." The thought chills me to the bones but the heat beats down on my skin from the outside. Either they didn't see us by some chance or their ignoring us right now. The bullets stop for a moment. I hear people walking around. Someone stops under us, looks right at me with their gun aimed right at us. Before moving on without firing a shot. I was frozen, unable to help or stop what could have happened. He looked right at us, but didn't fire. Why? People are shouting. A few more shots are fired. Then everything goes quite again. I can tell my breathing is ragged, much like Nelle's. Unable to get a good lung full of air in. My heart rate is dangerously high. Shouts are heard before someone else pokes their head under our tree cover.

"Okay, come on out" My first thought is fuck you buddy. My second thought is we're gonna die here. "Before I have to shot you out of there." He makes his gun click and it's louder then it should be.

"Okay" Nelle raises her arms. "Give us a minute to get out." She goes to move away from the tree and my arms tighten their hold. "Lucas" she lays a hand on my arm. "I'm not going out hiding in a tree. Let us see the others on last time at least. Maybe Darin needs to know we're safe. Maybe Anissa needs our help." I still resist her trying to get out, then freak out when she try's to go first. "Lucas" She gives me that look again. "It'll be okay." The guy snorting below her sends shivers up my spin. He reaches up as if to help her down and I drop out of the tree trying to shove my sword down his throat. Unfortunately he has a faster reaction time then I anticipated. He manages to get out of the way and I stand up to see a bunch of guns in my face. Nelle scolded me as she lands. "Lucas!"

"So your the infamous Lucas Harlan." Some tall guy stands before me, leaning on a large gun as if it's a walking stick. Lean build, so he's probably fast. He lost some muscle definition but I bet he hits hard too despite this. Dark hair, clean shaved face even know. Darker eyes seem dead to me, or I'm projecting how I feel right now. He's calm with so many guns around us. Cocky almost with that slight grin. "Somehow I was expecting more from the stories I heard about you. You made a few fans with Brant's men, the way they talked about your fighting skills. Or was that your dad's after someone tried to put an arrow in my man's head?"

He's expecting an answer, and I have to give it. I can feel my face contorting with my rage, my voice going low. Stop gloating and just kill us already. "It was dad's flick of the wrist that killed the piece of scum that tried to take what didn't belong to him."

He of course tisked me for my tone, choosing to glare at Nelle. "She had the temper about it. My man was simply defending himself from what he thought was a zombie."

Nelle much to my dismay snorts at him. "No way anyone could think she was infected, she mutters to her self when she's walking alone. Infected humans, not undead, zombies have no speech abilities. At all, even if freshly turned. Next time you wanna play innocent make sure your actually innocent first."

He does not look happy with the lip. Still I keep myself between her and the rest of them as best as I can. "Either kill us or fuck off. I was enjoying my day off, I would like to keep enjoying it."

He looks too happy with himself. "Oh, one of you is dying, but the other is coming with us."

Nelle snarls at him over my shoulder. "Over my dead body." She grabs a sword handle and starts to yank it out even as I turn my back on them. Not this again. I take her down to the ground as more bullets fly. I can make her screams out in my ears as a few get way to close to us for comfort. The bodies hit the ground and I'm covered in blood. One day, that's all I wanted. This was a nice farm, with open spaces on a clear warm summer day. It was nice and serine. Now I can feel Nelle sobbing trying to cover her ears. To make the sounds go away. Pain shots up my leg and I gaps as the burn settles in deep. That's can't be good. I can feel the ground tremble as people charge our location. Shouts make it through the bullet haze. Someone is calling my name before more pain lights my nerve ending on fire. This time in my back. Nelle sucks in air, I can hear the pain in her panting and my last fuck is dropped in the obsess. I make myself open my eyes. I make myself look around. Darin is charging my location. Out in the damn open field. I glare at him, where's Anissa? He's clearly not thinking right. He's screaming out something but I can't make it out. I keep looking around us. I need something at my back to check out the injuries. That tree is right there but there's bodies I gotta drag us over first, it's also in the wrong direction of Darin. Making both our jobs harder. Still, I can feel my heart beating faster as pain sinks in deeper and blood seeps out of my wounds. I have to assets the damage first. Tree it is. I scoop an arm under Nelle, pull her in tight and army crawl to the tree. Pushing the two bodies out of my way. Darin has ducked behind another tree. He saw me move, he knows I'm still breathing at the moment. He has backed off and is working on wasting their bullets and giving me time. Nelle sobs, crying out in pain as I lean her agents the tree. Her eyes flutter on me, her head rolls. There's a lot of blood everywhere, some of it mine, some of it her's. We don't share the same blood type, will their mixing kill either of us? Sweat rolls down her face and I worry, is it from the blood, the pain, something else? The ringing in my ears stops finally. My eyes can focus better as the pain dulls to an all over body ache. That fist shot appears to be a flesh wound. It took a chunk with it, but still a flesh wound. It hurt so damn much thou. I lean to the side and feel pain shot up my side again. At least the bullet that went through didn't hit anything major, I think. Suddenly I wish I had paid better attention in biology class. Nelle turns green and I turn her head to the side, she vomits on me. All I can do it hold on tight as more bullets fly. Hold on tight and prey she's not turning on me. Thou I wanna toss my lunch too, the pain is almost too much. Stress-ers, they can make you turn faster. This is a lot of stress on us right now. Away from the farm and all it's medical supplies has me wrapping my arms around Nelle. If she turns she can claw at my arms, but I can't let go till we're back and I can keep her safe in a cage. Out here people are more likely to kill her then run away. To be honest I maybe holding on to turn on her before we get back. Darin makes a mad dash between the trees and guns fire on him again. Someone in the house fires back, then opens fire as he makes another mad dash for us. He hits the tree and slumps to the ground. A few grazes showing on his arms. "It burns"

He looks down at himself, then Nelle, then me. "Agreed." He does a fast check over and isn't impressed with what he saw. "I can't believe you wondered so far from the house knowing someone was gunnin for them." I open my mouth and feel my head sway on me before he cuts off my retort. "Look Bishop has a man waiting in the car. They don't know their rides are out for the count yet. But with everyone else dead or already gone they came looking for the ones that got away in the field. You stayed in the tree after knowing they saw you climb up into it?"

"Someone looked up and saw us. I didn't know if it was safe to get back out or not yet." It's feeble at best but he nods a bunch at this.

"Not really, it was just the two keeping an eye on it. It would have been easier to get away if you had tried for it sooner. Now I have to get both of you back to the car." It's not bullet proof, I'm diverting Darin from his work to armor a car for us again. I've had enough of this crap already. Learn to swing a sword they said. It'll be cool they said. You'll get in shape they said. They forgot to mention that in gun fights swords are almost useless unless you got my dad's level of experience of your crazy enough to not care. Looks cool? Oh yaa. Usefull? Not so much. "Can you run?" I roll my eyes up at him. With a bullet wound in my stomach and my leg? "Can you at least Stand?" I glare at him for a moment before attempting the feat. I get up, put pressure on my leg and hit the dirt crying out in pain. Damn, why does my leg graze hurt more then my stomach hole? "Okay, hold on. I'll get Nelle back to the car first then come back for you okay."

"Anissa?" I stop him with hand on his arm, I almost forgot to ask.

"In the car, thankfully unscathed. I need you to stay that way too okay. I'll be right back." He picks Nelle out of my limp arms, cuddles her in close and pivots on his feet. How far can he carry her? How many bullets do they have left? How many do we have left? He looks up at the house and nods once the way he came, counts down from five and takes off at break neck speeds. Bullets fly from both sides again and I'm let praying their both okay. I tuck my head. I look away. Please be okay. The bullets stop again and I crack an eye ball to see Bishop doing that funny looking army run towards me. He stops and helps Darin up, using his body as a shield they make it the rest of the way. So I gotta get to that tree to be out of gun range. Darin comes barreling around the corner only to get yanked back by Bishop. I can hear the foot steps rounding on my spot. I can hear the gun clip slid into place and the hammer being pulled back.

My eyes roll up to see that same shit head looking down at me. He grins as I flip him off. "Fuck you." Such langue on my way out is probably frowned a pone but whatever. I can hear Ryan now, he's gonna be pissed that I'm leaving him with this mess to clean up.

No really, I can hear him. "Dad's not happy with you" I glance up in the tree, buddy is already looking up, he jumps to the side but not fast enough. Ryan takes him to the ground and smashes his face in once really hard. Something went crack. Then Ryan's leaning into the tree beside me as more bullets fly. "Still with me fearless?" I blink slowly at him.

"What? When? How?"

"Saving your ass. About 20 minutes ago. Car. Darin provided the distraction I needed to get into position." I turn to see Bishop covering Darin, crouched down low to the ground, giving me a thumps up. I flip him off. "Don't worry, dad's pretty mad at him too. Come on. Up and at-em." I'm hoisted up, Ryan has to pull me back into his side as I nearly topple over again.

"World spinning" He holds me still for a moment as I adjust to being upright when all I want to do it lay back down. "Better"

"Can you run yet?" I try to give him an eye evil, thou from that smirk it wasn't effective, before pointing at my leg. "It's just a flesh wound." I point at my stomach. "That's a problem." I point at my discarded sword out in the field. "Nothing to be done about that." He goes to step away and I pull back, pointing at my discarded sword again. "There's no way I'm getting it without getting killed. Gram-pa will understand." I point back at the sword and I can hear the verbal smack down his glare is trying to convey. He shoves me back into the tree. Points at me, the sword and I watch Bishop throw his arms up in the air, before he settles back in and a bunch of other army guys poor out from behind him. Friendly fire is now a bit problem, Right up until a rocket laundry is brought around the corner. Bishop has a rocket launcher? I watch Ryan dive back and shove me to the ground as it's fired. I can hear people screaming behind us as they scatter. I'm back to thinking I'm going to die. The word shatters, shakes, rolls and my lunch is lost. Ryan, yanks me up, grabbing the sword on the way by and my head is left bouncing in the mad dash.

Anissa is in my face screaming bloody murder again. "...For a god damn sword!" She winds up to yell some more but Darin shoves her into the car, Ryan throws me in, jumping in behind as Darin just makes it into the passenger seat. Dad makes the gravel fly as Bishop covers our retreat.

"I couldn't leave it for them to find." I roll my eyes over at Anissa. She lunges forwards eyes wide as I pass out.

My poor, poor head. Someone is crying. Someone is screaming. Someone sounds angry. Someone is upset. My name is blurted out a few times as a foot is stomped down once. The lights are out in the room but I'm on a soft bed as the smell of cooking food reaches me. I reach out and knock something off the stand beside me. Glass shatters and the other room goes quite.

Ryan calls out. "Lucas?" There's a knocking on the door as my brain stumbles to find a response. "Lucas?"

"Yaa?" It's the best I can do and feels weird coming out of my mouth. The door cracks open, weapon coming in first. That's not good. "Ryan?" I try to roll and end up on the floor as pain explodes across my body. My eyes are held tight trying not to cry out in pain as gentle hands tilt my head up. I know who they belong too. "Nelle?"

"Words are good right?" She's talking to someone else.

"He's not infected. Lucas?" I know, they need to see my eyes but they burn. How long have I been out of it? They feel like their glued shut. Darin holds Anissa back as Ryan try's in vain to pry Nelle away without hurting her. Darin takes a tentative step further as I try to open my eyes more but the lights hurt. "How do you feel?"

"Sick" I answer.

Anissa sneaks around Darin but doesn't get any closer. "Any pain at all?"

"Lots" I answer again. She takes a step forwards and I try to back up into the bed.

Darin and Ryan nod at each other before letting the girls go. Anissa's hand lands on my forehead and Nelle offers me water. "Matthew is cooking lunch. Dad's on his way to check on your mom. Nelle's in the clear. It's you we're worried about."

"That seems to be a theme recently."

Anissa smirks at me. "You have type O blood, universal donner. So Nelle's fine, but she has type AB." I blink at this as she points to my gut wound. "You can only accept blood from another type O. Do you remember getting hit by the bullet?"

"I was worried about the mixing of the two types." I pause as she nods her head at me. "So Nelle is okay?"

"Yes, she'll be fine, but we are concerned her blood may have mixed with yours. An ABO incompatibility reaction can occur if you receive the wrong type of blood during a blood transfusion. It's a rare but serious and potentially fatal response to incompatible blood by your immune system. Your universal donner status doesn't work with receiving blood, unless it's another type O."

Which Nelle is not. "Crud" Nelle was crying, I can see the red puffy-ness around her eyes. Ryan was angry, he's still flushed. Darin's voice is scratchy, he was yelling then. That leaves Anissa to be upset without water works.

"About sums it up" Anissa leans back on her heels, thinking for a moment. "Supper should be ready soon, stay here for now." She makes everyone leave. Only to return to place a cold cloth on my forehead. "Your running hot again, lets try and break that fever. I can't tell whats from the damage and what could be an ABO reaction." Great, she's reduced to playing nurse for us again.

"You should be helping Darin down in the barn."

"Lucas" She cuts me off turning the bed side lamp on. "The farm was taking from us. Along with all the equipment, samples..."

I swear my heart stopped. " Yvonna? Sky?"

"Still in that barn as far as we know. With no one looking after them. We all agreed we would wait till you were better before trying to take it back."

"Yvonna won't last long without care." I push myself up, only to have Anissa shove me back down with a finger looking un-amused with me. "I'm better lets go." I sit up again, she rolls her eyes and uses her middle finger to push my back down. "Fine leave me here and go get them back then."

"And how do you purpose we move them? Where would we keep them? How would we keep everyone safe and not chewed on?"

"We have to take the farm back then."

"Rest" She shoves me back down. "Once your better and we're sure your not about to turn or die on us we can go retrieve them. Right now everyone else is about to be sent out to find what we can in a near by town. It was too far away then but within ear shot now. Bishop will watch over while we go."

"It should be you watching over me and the military men out there."

"They sustained heavy losses."

"With a grand-aid launcher?"

"Yes. The Sabb compound was lost remember? What Bishop has is all he gets to work with. He had 15, he's down to 8. Turns out Mac had his own heavy artillery."

"What aren't you guys telling me?"

She looks back at the door, Darin stands there holding a plate. "Dad is being air lifted to the next secure area. Mac took aim at the car." I feel my hear stop again. "Crispin got his truck in the way but dad's window was still blown out." I sit up ram rod straight and yank Anissa's face around to the other side she hasn't been showing me.

"How long have I been out for?" Red rivets are already scaring over. "I'm out of dangers way by now if these are already healing."

"Two weeks" Darin places the plate down. "Odds are good Yvonna and Sky we're killed while they searched or were set free. Ainssa wasn't to badly injured, but she will scar. Dad may not be alive anymore, we lost contact with the new secure location." I can't breath right. "Lucas." Anissa shoves the now warm cloth back on my forehead as Darin rushes to me side. "Please breath. We we're just trying to find a better time to tell you." How is he so calm right now. "Ryan's in charge, he made us leave. He made us find shelter because you needed more care."

"He said dad was mad at me."

"He was, I got an ear full right up until the car was blow off the road. Mostly about letting our guard down but he was cooling off fast." He places the plate in front of me and stands up, pulling Anissa with him. "Eat something. We need to grab some stuff and head into town but we will be back shortly okay. Mathews downstairs if you need anything." I don't like them going off without me, but sounds like they've been doing this for weeks now. I finally pull myself up and stare at the food in front of me. Toast and eggs. Cold eggs now. I eat the toast first even thought it feels like lead in my stomach. The eggs are gross, but I'm happy to see some Mathew coming in to see how I'm doing... with chocolate milk?

"There's a cow around here, so it's crappy and fake syrup tasting." He places the milk beside me. "But it's better then nothing. So Darin folded did he. Are you mad at us for leaving them behind?"

It was the right move but... "I'm not mad, I think they would understand and approve of it. How are you holding out?"

"Better then I thought I would be. I'm stuck on bed rest orders myself." His eyes do a side glance at the door and I see the men trying not to ease drop on us but be close enough to help if need be. It's a delicate dance, and there failing at it. He picks the dishes up and gets half way to the door before I speak again.

"Are you mad at Ryan for leaving them behind?" He shrugs and walks out. I'm left with my thoughts for the next four hours. None pleasant. We wanted to be left alone. We wanted a moment of peace and quite. We never seem to get it. I can hear a car on gravel slow then stop. Then the sound of feet across hardwood floor and the smell of burnt hair reaches me . I can hear Anissa screaming at Nelle over something. I can hear Darin yelling at her too. Ryan is quite but I can hear him at least talking to them before the others go there own ways. No one comes to see me at first and I worry. Ryan shows up to check up on me but doesn't say anything before leaving again. I think they are mad, may be at me, may be at each other. May be at the world. A house divided can not stand. I can't stand, but I can't let this go on. I can hear people talking down stairs, so I shuffle over, pull myself up, then help myself to a piece of the floor. I'm left panting and in pain. Not nearly as bad but still enough to make me pause. Voice pick up and I crawl to the door. Leaning on the wall I slap my arm around till I manage to get lucky and find the door nob. Thankfully round I grip it tight and let myself go over sideways slightly. The door swings open and I see the stairs from here, the voices also get louder. Their arguing over food and defenses. It won't mean anything if nobody is working on the cure. We have to get back to the farm and Darin's equipment. It's been two weeks, surely Mac raided and left by now. I start shuffling closer to the stair ways, I doubt I'll get down it my self like this. I land heavy and the floorboard creeks on me. I'm still having trouble breathing when Ryan makes his way up to me, his sai's out and ready. Darin behind him and Mathew is left with the girls. I'm about to open my mouth to ream them all out when Ryan cuts even Darin off before he can speak.

"What do you think your doing?" Darin's head tilts as his eyes go sideways even as he backs up a step. Ryan is fuming, I can almost see the stream coming out his ears. I open my mouth and he cuts me off again. "Just what the hell do you think your doing? You should be in bed resting, not dragging your half dead ass around this hell hole. I break things Lucas, I don't fix them. I can't keep this together much longer so you need to get better. And to get better you have to get bed rest."

He takes a step and the words spills out. "A house divided can not stand. You have to compromise on what everyone wants and needs. You better get better at fixing things cuz I don't think I'm coming back from this."

"Oh no!" He leans towards me with fisted hands. "You don't get to cop out cuz your dad maybe dead. My last remaining biological parent maybe dead too, I trying my best to keep them safe and feed but I can't be in 6 places at once and we all know your better at this leading crap then the rest of us..."

"Because I had to be. Your in charge right now Ryan, so you have to do better. Your looking for the cop out not me..." Darin pivots and high tails it down the stairs trying to usher everyone else out the door. And by usher I mean he shoves them out and slams the lock into place before dashing back up the stairs to us. A lock won't stop Mathew for long, assuming they didn't leave the back door open like always and he's simply heading that way. I'll give it to Mathew, he's lazy but he also knows the easiest and often fastest way to get a job done. If for no other reason then to get back to what he wants to be doing. "You want to know how I lead so well, it's because I studied each of you down to the minute detail, front to back and top to bottom. To be a good leader you have to know what your team is made of, what they can or can't do. I never asked from you what I knew you couldn't handle. Because I had to know. Mathew won't be stopped by that lock for long, assuming he doesn't just find an faster way to get back inside the house." I point to where the back door was in the farm house and Ryan ad-justest my arm slightly to the south. "Darin can help cover the strategies parts if you really need a second option, he also has the longest reach so get him to reach for the top shelve things. You break things, but your also handy to have in a fight because you have the most stamina out of us all. The harder they hit you the harder you go. Darin can hand out the hits, he's not so good at taking them. And be damned if anyone can even hit Mathew in the first place. find their strengths to your weaknesses. Then find their weaknesses to your strengths. Now fill in the gaps with each of these. You don't need me..."

"Yes we do!" Darin stomps his foot getting both our attentions. "Yes we do, we need both of you because we can't function as a team of two." He sucks in air, chest heaving at this. He opens his mouth with finger raised as if to make a point, only to turn on his heels and book it down the hallway. He crashes thru a door and hits the floor before upchucking in the bathroom. Well at least I know where that is now too.

"Pick me up and take me with you or I will keep crawling across the floor." Ryan rolls his eyes but helps me up as Darin seems to come to a finish. "Darin?" I call out twice more before he gives us the thumps up sign. he glances up into the mirror and we both sign seeing his normal eye color and not blood shot ones. Mathew bounds up the stairs and scowls at us all.

"Thanks Darin, really helpful dude." He pushes past us and smacks him upside the head. "You left the back door open again. The shit has hit the fan, try and pull your big boy panties on and lets find a damn solution already." He walks away from us and back down the stairs, we stand around looking at everything but each other.

"So, bed rest" I look back down the hallway, now too tired to keep my eyes open. Ryan grumbles at this but closes the door behind Darin before helping my back to my new room and unfamiliar bed. "I can feel the urge to rip into things Ryan." He pauses looking back at me. "My system is losing, just like Choles did, just like Kandace said it would. It's been a few months, I know your feeling it too." He sighs before sitting down beside me.

"There's only one other person I don't want to chomp on right now."

"Mathew." I nod understanding. I got close to Darin and felt like snapping his head into the toilet seat. Not a normal thing for me so I was happy when Ryan backed away, then I noticed I didn't want to hurt him. "We have to get back to that farm. Tomorrow. If everyone fled leaving the girls behind Mac would have raided and left again. There would be no point in sitting around waiting for us to come back."

"It's hostile territory now." He's got a point, but...

"We need the cages, at the very least you and Matt can get some closer. Either their still alive or there not."

"Or they were set free and killed somewhere we won't find them."

So that's what he's running from. "Yvonna would understand."

"I know. Survival at any cost. It's a price I never imagined paying so soon. I'll round everything up, get all our stuff packed up. Hit the near by town again tomorrow, grab what we can and start making our way back to the farm then."

"It's not far, take the others and grab everything, even if we don't need it. Where are Crispin and Amilia?"

"Unknown. After the blast Bishop pulled us out but took off without looking in the truck. After securing this place I sent him away. He left the few behind and it's been great having the extra hands, but I can't look at them anymore."

"How mad was Darin?"

"... Tried bashing Bishops head in. I've never seen him so angry in my life. I actually had to step in his war path to prevent anything bad from happening. I think Bishop may have let him do it too. He knows he left a researcher behind, but with bullets flying again I think they would understand we had to get Darin out of there first."

"You know he hates all that stuff right?"

"You mean being watched like a hawk, pampered almost as we all bend over backwards to make sure he's kept the safest? Oh yaa, he's developed quite the eye twitch over it too."

"He's able bodied, but always got sick the fastest for whatever reason."

"Too high strung. Much like your self." He leaves it like that and I can't even protest it.

At some point I pasted out and Nelle joined me. I wake up with her arm across my chest, as if holding me down. My heart heaves and try's to give out. I don't want to chew on her either. Maybe that's pasted and I shouldn't look into it anymore. I need her help getting to the bathroom but risk it on my own after that. She opens the door as I waver in front of the bathroom sink trying to dry my hands off. They shake so badly my ego takes a further beating.

"You've been without food in a como for two weeks. You were badly injured and lost a lot of blood before that. I also know you were skimping on your meals to make sure the others had more to eat even before that. Your poor brain has been bashed into your skull so many times I lost count in the last 4 months. You have pushed your self too hard, let me take care of you for a change." She slips her shoulder under my arm and uses the wall to help me back across the floor and down the stairs. Where Ryan has to help her help me to the couch in the living room. My swords lean agents the wall beside me, sharpened, polished and a little dusty. Only means they have been left in this corner the entire time we've been here. I'm left with a few books as they take off with the army guys in an unknown armored van. I read for a bit, eat a few bits of the toast. Read some more and sit here watching the road in and out. I get to watch two infected cross paths, they start searching for the food they can smell in the air and make their way closer to the house. By the time their shines hit the first step I've made my way to the front door. They look at me. I look back at them. They start wondering away and my knees almost give out on me. I slap a hand on the door and get their attention. I point away from the farm and they seem to understand and start heading in that direction. Once more on their marry way I make my way back to the chair. I can hear a screamer in the distance, a bellow answers and only my remaining humanity keeps me in this chair and not answering the call. I need to hold on till we get back to the farm and the cages. It's the only thing sharpening my mind right now. I am sitting in this chair glaring at the road when they finally come back. I left the door open and I watch them storm the house in a panic. I'm still glaring at that door when they bust throw. Ryan leading the way. He takes one look at me and sighs. Nelle starts crying again and Darin hits the floor hard on his knees. I already know my eyes are blood shot to the extreme. "Lets get moving, we don't have long." Darin and Anissa are taken with the army guys for the drive back, the rest of us sick-o's get the unarmored car and the lead spot. Nelle hugs me tight for the near 10 hour drive back. Things are getting spotty and I either slipped in and out of it or fell asleep for a some of it, for I am missing several hours of that ride. Ryan gets out with the car stopped right in front of the porch stair way. He's getting clumsy and it takes way too much effort to not chomp on someone. I kinda understand why Gorge's guy pulled the trigger on himself. I know it's happening. I can't stop it. Crispin comes flying out of the barn only for Darin to intercept him before he can get any closer. I have to pay attention to fully understand their words and Crispin is not taking the news well. I walk in and see Amillia opening a cage door for me.

"When we woke up after after the crash and everyone had left us, we didn't know what else to do so we came back here. He took the farm back for you guys. Mac was camping the site to see if you returned for the stuff. We sent Mac the bodies as the first and only warning to leave it alone for good. He hasn't been back since." They were mostly likely out for a few hours, then would have had at least a days worth of walking to get back here. They have been on their own for two weeks now. It gives me hope the others will be fine now that we're back here. Now that I'm thinking about it, the cage seems smaller then I remember. There is also a lot more of them then when we left. "Bishop flew through and left another sat phone, his men helped set these up for us. In the event you ever came back here."

"That's a lot of if's there Amilia" Darin stands far back from us with Crispin acting as a shield. Crap. I look back at Amilia beside, she's infected as well. We're going to crash and burn then. I want to dive at Crispin and Darin, the rest are friendly around me. I open my mouth but the right words don't come to mind. "I know" Darin nods as Mathew gets back in the cage with Sky, she looks a little ruffed up but she's still alive. Yvonna is even in her cage too, covered in gore.

Amilia sighs grabbing my attention. "They were set free, Mac's men paid a price for that, then Bishop tracked them down for us and brought them back a few days ago. No Idea what Yvonna got into but Sky seems unstable on her feet. Kadnace is due to come by in a few days and check on them again. They stay in a half comma like state most of the day with lots of fluids to help them. I bet we will be put on the same scheduled to keep us alive for as long as possible." It's good to know she's alright. I slump down on my bed in here and nod at this. Words almost lost to me. My head hurts, rest is probably the best thing for me now. To my surprise Nelle try's to join me but Amilia makes her stay out. "For now, not till your eyes go blood shot, after he finishes turning if your not closes enough he may attack you. That enzyme makes you picky about who a new friend is or isn't." I watch her turn and run away crying, Anissa chasing after her as Amilia gets into an open cage. "I have no idea when I'll be turning but my eyes went blood shot and I keep throwing up, so probably not too far behind you guys." This is a devastating blow for us. Darin's back up now is Crispin. Nelle will be pushed to look out duty while Anissa and Darin spend their days in here. Having to see us as a reminder, hmm, at least the bathroom schedual will be cleared up for them.

I'm looking at Darin watching me. "I know brother, sleep okay."

I'm not entirely sure what he's talking about but sleep is a good idea.


	18. Chapter 18

Surprise surprise, Lucas listened to me. He turns in his sleep, I'm not sure how I know but I do. I didn't even have to check, I looked up from my scoop and knew it. Ryan shortly after was a bit odd. Mathew takes a whole day of being locked in there before he turns. Amillia shortly after him. We're dropping like may fly's. I know they waited till we got back, so they could be in the safety of the cages, but I didn't realize how far gone they were. It does explain Mathew and Ryan's unwillingness to get close to me or Anissa. Nelle turns when Kandace shows up a few days later. Kandace gets upset seeing Lucas in a cage and offers to move us all to the new location, she can have something nicer set up for everyone by the time we get there. But I can't do it. Moving them is dangerous. We need a way to keep everyone safe before I consider moving them. Dad never made it the new location, he turned on the way there and escaped. Thank god Lucas isn't able to understand that. Mom got out in the transfer after hearing dad turned. I have no idea how she will fare out there by her self but she was hell bent on something according to the footage. Thank god Ryan can't understand that. I'm not so sure about Mathew, he won't stop starring at Kandace as she explained it all to me. I suggest taking the compound back. It's the safest option.

"Together?" Anissa leans into me as Kandace jumps back up into the chopper.

"What?"

"Together, no matter what? I've watch Ryan and Mathew get eaten alive with guilt over Yvonna and Sky. Then again with Nelle and Crispin over Lucas and Amilia."

"I can't make that kind of promise..."

"Please" I keep the sigh to my self, she needs something to cling too.

"Together then." At first I was little annoyed with this, but after a few days I find myself answering the call. Then I end up looking and waiting for it. I kinda understand the always comment now. Some days pass without a word shared otherwise. Some days we get excited because the virus starts to be beaten back, only to take over when we're not looking. Kandace keeps her weekly visits up, letting me know what's going on on her end. Lucas keeps a close eye on her whenever she visits with him. She gave herself a second dose of enzyme but it didn't help at all. I tried retesting things I already dismissed. Nothing new seems to be working. Crispin turned on his guard duty and wondered away on us last night, Kandace is insisting on bringing us all to the new place but again I decline. "Not until you have a safe way for everyone to travel." The sat phone won't last much longer, she'll need to bring a new one with her next time.

Her voice crackles a little on us, signalling the end of the conversation. "I'm working on that, building a comfy cage for every individual person is hard you know"

"Somehow I don't think they will care, how complex are you making these cages?"

"It's not that, it's the fact that I'm surrounded by scientist and military men, not builders that's slowing us down. I thought we had a good one finally set up, right up until we put a crazy in it to test the strength and I almost got run over in his stampede out."

"Sounds like your not reinforcing the connections properly. On your next visit see if Bishop will let you bring one, maybe I can figure out where you'r going wrong."

"Maybe?" She cackles at this. "Fine, I'll see what I can do. How is everyone doing?"

"Nothing new to report. They sit there staring at each other." I shiver thinking about it, in my last trip they looked at me, but didn't scream or anything. "I'm running out of time Kandace, we gotta figure something out faster."

"Your fine Darin"

"No, Yvonna's stop screaming at me, the others no longer react to my arm between the bars."

"Oh." Maybe she understands now. "Then we need to make this move a priority for her safety." I look over at Anissa sleeping at the moment. Zoning out on Kandace thinking about our last food run. We both got bite. "Darin?"

"Oh sorry, just thinking. It would have been a smart move to stay at the compound. There's still a ton of food there right?"

"Yaa but Bishop looks at me like I'm stupid whenever I suggest taking it back."

"Bring some plans, maybe I can help with that too."

She cuts out for a moment so I only get that last half of her idea. "...It has some merit, but your helping in too many places at once, that's why I keep saying come live with us for a bit. Anyway my clock says less then 2 so I should hang up and get back to work. Take care of everyone for me, and tell Anissa to take care of you for me too."

"Deal, just remember to take care of your self and tell Bishop to keep a closer on you for me"

"Oh yaa" she laughs at this. "He just loves taking orders from us anyway..." It's all static and I know that's it for the next few days. I would love to wait a few days, but we don't have that kind of time. It's going to be risky, but we need to head back into town one last time. There's got to be something left we missed. Anything at this point in time would be good. She stirs to my left as I look over my map again.

"There's nothing left there Darin." She rubs sleep out of her eyes sitting up, stomach complaining. "We have combed the place over three times. We gotta find another town, a farm maybe?"

We combed over all of those months ago and found nothing. "We can give everyone a good nights sleep and the last of the liquid diet drip then head out for a two day trip. Hopefully there okay when we get back."

"Mac hasn't bothered this farm in over a month, why would he come back now?"

"Maybe Crispin found his way there and alerted him to our problem."

"Or he's..." she can't even finish her own thought, but I know what she means. The only reason everyone else is still alive is because we have been feeding them while they sleep. Sure they lost a lot of weight, liquid diet only gets so you far. But at least their body has something to work with, Crispin has no such safety net out there, he was already hungry when he left. How long he could survive in his state without medical aid is unknown. "Together?"

"Together" I have the sinking feeling she knows that I'm going to break the promise. "Let's set them up for the night, we can cover some good ground while most are sleep."

She nods getting up, skipping past the kitchen cuz we both know it's empty. She side steps the trip wires and traps that would alert us to intruders, ducking low to avoid the purposely placed beam. I was kinda hopping someone would come running around this corner and face plant into it. I pause tilting my head, arm reaching out but she's already stopped too. Like ninja we step deeper into the shadows when the sounds reaches us again. Nothing has moved around here in a while, I was starting to think most humans had been whipped out.

"Hello?" I startle up straight at the sound of a child calling out into the darkness. "Hello?" How could she have survived for so long? Someone would have been looking out for her surely? I can't sense a trap being set up yet I am reluctant to announce our presence. Anissa takes a step forwards calling out for me.

"Hello?" The little girl gasp and starts crying.

"Safe?"

Anissa takes lead again. I almost feel like dying see a mere child in front of us, she can't be 5. There's no way she made it this far on her own. She's covered in scraps and scratches. She has been alone for a bit, she doesn't look like she's eaten in a long time. Her little summer dress hangs all wrong with sticks for limbs and a pot belly sticking out screams malnourished. She takes a step back seeing me but Anissa puts her hands out showing we mean no harm. "It's okay sweetie, it's safe, I'm going to walk over now okay." The little girl pulls her hands into her self and nods at this. She talks as she slowly walks over. "Where is your mommy and daddy?"

"Turned"

"Is there anyone else with you?" Children as a general rule don't lie. Well not in the sense that they mean to deceive us, it's just that they see the world so different from us. She shakes her head no and Anissa pauses taking a glance outside. "It's okay if there's anyone else with you, it's safe for them too" the little girl starts crying and points behind us. I pivot drawing my Bo even as some guy runs around the corner and smacks face first into the beam. I can't help but giggle at this. It's as funny to watch as I hoped it would be. The little girl starts crying looking out the window and I see a bunch of infected standing in front of our window. "Shit" Yaa, that about covers it. We know they can't get past our outer defenses so someone let them in.

The little girl wails at out. "They never leave me alone!"

"Hunny, Do you have any idea how long you have been on your own?"

"Never alone" She wipes at the tears on her face. "They fallow me."

My eye goes up at this. "Are your parents in there?"

"No" she shakes her head and points behind us again, that guy, who is an infected is standing back up.

"Okay sweetie, cover your eyes okay. I'll make the scary infected go away." She slams those little eyes closed and covers her ears as more tears stream down her little face. Her cheeks aren't even chubby anymore. She's scary close to dying from a lack of food. I push the infected outside and head to the barn making lots of noise as I go, they fallow like good little mindless wanna-be zombies. From there I shuffle them into a larger container. Kandace better be happy I grabbed more samples for her, even if that wasn't my intended purpose tonight. Next I swing out to the front gates and realize the little girl must have opened them, unintentional letting them in. It's cracked open large enough for one small, half starved child to slip through. Kids are notorious for not closing doors behind them. I bet the infected fallowed their noses after that. I shut the gate and head back to the house. Where Anissa has the little girl calmed down and working on cleaning her scraps as best as she can.

"Sorry if this stings a little, but it will make the ouchies go away faster I promise."

"Silly" I pat the girl on the head as I walk by. "You left the gate open and they fallowed you inside"

"Sorry" She curls in a bit looking embarrassed with flushed cheeks.

"It's okay, it happens some times. My names Darin, what's yours?"

"Hailee"

"Well Hailee I chased off all the infected. That's the good news. The bad news is we don't have anything to eat. When was the last time you ate?"

"Ummm, a long time ago."

Anissa gives me a side glance. "Hailee, my name is Anissa, my dad is a doctor so I know a few things. Darin is supper smart and working on a cure. Do you know what a cure is?" She shakes her little head no. "It means he is trying to make all the infected people better. But to do that he needs samples from everyone he runs across. I know needles sound scary but would you mind if Darin took a sample, I promise it's one little pinch and then it will be all over?" She shrinks a little at this but nods yes. "Maybe you can help him come up with a cure, wouldn't that be cool?" She seems to like this idea. Children are often happy to help, it makes them feel important.

"Okay Hailee. I'm going out to the barn, I'll be right back but don't worry Anissa will keep you safe okay." She nods and once again I'm running across the yard and back into the barn. I retrieve one of my last clean needles and head back inside. Anissa is telling Hailee a story, it's adorable so I stay in the shadows till she's done. She's good with kids, Hailee has calmed right down. First flight to a secure compound, she's on it. Poor thing must be traumatized. "Hey Hailee" I announce myself ducking low for the beam. I rip the package open so she knows it's clean, thou she may not understand why that's important. "After this why don't we see if we can get you cleaned up and into something less full of holes, how does that sound?"

"Ice cream?" She looks to the kitchen.

"Sorry Hailee, we don't have any ice cream. We were about to go looking for some food, I can call a friend in early and have them take you to a nice safe location with lots of food in it." Dear lord why did I tell her that? She looks excited by this and I can't grantee anything about there being food with Kandace and company. Anissa is pouting at me, thinking I got her hopes up for nothing. "One little pinch okay" I hand the needle over to Anissa and offer up my hand to hold. "Just breath, it'll be all over real soon okay." She was looking at me, then turns to watch the needle.

"This is going to feel funny but it will help me okay." Anissa takes some rope and ties it around Hailee's upper arm.

"Pretty lady" Hailee smiles and I watch Anissa melt at this.

"Hear that, she think's I'm pretty"

Hailee pouts at me. "Call her a pretty lady"

"Yes ma'ma" I can't help but smile with them. "Anissa is a very pretty lady. Your right Hailee, I should complement her more often." She winces as the needle goes in, a few tears getting out but she's one brave little girl.

"All done" Anissa hands the tiny sample over, I was worried I would take too much. I certainly would have tried for more, but this will have to do. "Okay, why don't we leave Darin to play with his science toys and I'll help get you all cleaned up and find something for you to wear?"

"I'm hungry"

"We know honey, we're hungry too. That's why we were going to go look for food."

"I'll come too!"

"Oh, that could be dangerous with more scary infected fallowing us around."

"That's okay they don't bother me" I pause part way out the door with this. All those scratches on her, they could have been from humans, they could have been from falling or a tumble too. It's too dark for me to know for sure, so I leave Anissa with Hailee and I make a mad dash out to my science toys. I can't get this sample under the scoop fast enough. She has a ton of red blood cells working over time. They make fast work of the infected strain I tried slipping in there. Could she... My hops are dashed with the third sample of virus, it quickly takes over. This means she has antibodies to two of the strains but not the third. So close, still this give me something new to work with. It also means I need to call Kandace, like right now. As the centrifuge starts up I hit call, leaving a request for some expeditious help for the small child. We can't keep her alive for long in her state. I set the computer up to run and do it's thing before dashing back inside. Anissa has Hailee in the girls room, picking something from Sky's collection.

"Where is everyone?" Hailee takes note of all the boxes and difference sizes.

"They turned too" Anissa answers. "But it's okay, Sky won't mind" It's too big on her, but Anissa is about to pull some magic with a needle and threat.. "I'll make a few adjustments so you don't drown in this and then we can meet Darin back up in the living room how does that sound."

"Okay" I nod backing out the door, then run upstairs to my room. Where's that box. Shoved all the way into the back of my closet with caked on dust. I grab the teddy bear and start beating it agents the desk edge trying to clean it off. Waves of dust keep puffing up making it hard to breath. So I'm left banging the bear in one hand and using the other to try and clear the air. Finally I grab a few of the smaller toys and spot the astrology book discarded on the floor. I wonder if Hailee thinks the stars are interesting. "Hailee, guess what I found?" Her dainty fingers grip the edge of the couch, little face peeking over the top edge. I sneak up part way there making her giggle before popping the teddy bear out. "He's a little dust and in need of some tlc, but if you like him..." I wave my offering out in front of me worried she may not like teddy bears. She attempts to launch off from the back of the couch screaming in childish delight reaching for it.

"Mine?" she crushes the bear to her chest and I sigh in re leave.

"Yes Hailee you can have the teddy bear, he needs a name, what should we call him?"

I'm expecting mr. teddy bear, she surprises me with. "Arthur." Loud and proud with this she crushes him to her chest again and flops down beside Anissa once more and in love with the old thing.

"Arthur is in need of a deep cleaning" Anissa smirks at me.

"Arthur was stuck in a corner for years and years, give him a break. I also found this" I pull the book out and watch Anissa giggle. "It's a map of the stars." I settle in and let Anissa work her magic. Soon enough Hailee is asleep so I tuck her in with a blanket and head out. "I'll check and be right back, maybe we left something un-turned." Hailee needs to eat, like in a few hours, not a few days from now. The last thing I want to do is leave them alone, the second last thing I want to do is head back into that town. But I got no other choose. I may be wasting time but may be Gorge left me something. I don't normally pull the car out, but for this I will make an exception. A double check shows I got half a tank, should be enough to get me all the way there, if I can even find some more gas. The roads show a few infected as I zip past them, but nothing to worry about. Clear summer sky with tons of stars out means I don't even need my lights, still for the main part of this I keep them on. It's only after I get close to the city that I shut them down. Nothing moves in the small town, so I try the gas station first. Finding a small amount but nothing to be happy about. I tap on a few cars and find a bit more, I doubt this will get me back to the farm, but hey I cut this time in half, easily. The big tree on the corner marks my favorite house to visit. Gorge was great at stashing things away, but an hour later I flop over feeling dizzy. Never mind Hailee, I need food right away. I lightly bash my head backwards in frustration only to hear a holly thump. I pause and snap my head back again. Yep, that was hallow sounding. I whip around, place an ear to the wall and start tapping. Did he hid something in the walls? tap, tap, tap. It takes a few minutes but I find a non hallow sounding part. In my excitement I do more damage breaking it open then I intended. Sure enough there's a stash in here as well. Suddenly I'm running around tapping on walls and doors, finding tons of non hallow spots. Now I'm stupid levels of paranoid as I start rounding up what I can. God knows who's out there watching, do I leave some encase or take it all? What if I take it all and someone grabs it off me. Then again leaving any behind has the same potential problem with holes in a bunch of walls. I decide to take it all. I'm half way out the door when something grabs my eye. I back up into the house and spot the guy creepy around my car. Unless he knows how to jump start it I should be okay. Then I dash out in excitement. "Gorge!"

"Darin?" He snaps around and jumps up in joy with me. Colliding in the middle we almost go over. "Oh thank gods your still alive, I was worried with how the farm looked."

I pause, the farm has taken some damage but it wasn't that bad. "Yaa, we ran a-foul some bad guys and lost it for a bit, had to take it back by force."

"Explains the bullet holes."

"You my good man, are a bloody genius, hiding food in the walls like that"

"Thank my mom for that, she went a little happy with the dooms day prepping after she found out. I was hoping no one else would discover that before you guys could, I'm surprised it took you this long to need it."

"Oh I've needed it for a while but I never thought to check inside the walls. Was anyone else in town like that?"

"Not that I'm aware of but it's always worth a look." He fallows me back inside and see's the stash. "She had way more then that around here." He grabs the hammer I was using and takes me down to the basement. Where I find a gold stash of food. "She prepped for one year in supplies and stashed it all over this house, I don't even know what all she hid or where she hid it. But this is a great find. How many still standing?"

"Just Anissa and me. A little girl by the name of Hailee popped in a few hours ago..." I'm going sideways as Gorge yanks me in closer.

"Was she wearing a torn sundress, about yee high with dark hair?"

"Yaa why?" my brain freezes on this, did I make a mistake leaving Anissa there with the child? Where we fooled by the tiny size into a false sense of security?

"Infected fallow her wherever she goes, never hurting her, but never letting anyone close to her."

"She has antibodies on two types of the virus, the third does her in. She's half stared to death and crying. So we took her in, for a moment there I thought you were going to say she helps the bad guys."

"No, she freaked on us and fled, I was worried but couldn't find her in the woods."

"She's back at the farm with Anissa, lets go." He looks eager to help again, grabbing a bunch of food hastily shoved in bags we make a few dashes in and out carting our goods. I turn the car on and he points out to the west of us, explaining the others are out that we, we should pick them up too. I hesitate. West is the bad guys way. "No man, their outside of town." Okay, still I feel the creep make it's way up my spin. Trap, it's a trap.

"Gorge." I stop a block over. "Who else is over that way and why don't you just ask me for help?"

He deflates at this. "Hailee works for the bad guys. She went missing on my watch, I have to come back with something."

"Not me you don't"

"What no! I was hoping you would open a can of whoop ass on them while I found mom and the others."

"Mac knows who I am, I can't go out that way."

"Shit. Okay back to the farm, I'll figure something else out then."

"Hailee said her parents turned, she was also really badly taken care of..."

"Mac is... not a good guy. I don't think he ever hurt her, but he certainly never took care of her. Around that camp it's every man for himself. A smile child has no place in that world. She often hid with me and Lily, some of those older men, they way they would look at her... She often had father like figure around her as well."

"Not what I would call safe, but I guess it's better then nothing." I pull up to the farm house and see the gate is open again.

"She is really bad for leaving gates open." Gorge shakes his head at this getting out of the car before I can say otherwise

"But I'm not. Get back in Gorge. I was the last to leave and I didn't leave it like that."

"I'll go wide then." He takes off into the bushes and I'm left shaking my head. I get out to close the gate and pretend to get my Bo from the back seat. Way over doing the safety look out before dashing out to close the gate, shutting the lock on it again. Someone with half a brain opened this gate. I dash back in and way over do the check again. I watched Gorge take off into the woods. But part of the reason I got out was to take a bag out with me. There's a lose board on one side if you know about it with a hidden dug out hole under it. I remember Lucas pulling the board up shortly after we got here and digging it out. Only our family knows about it. The hole was empty, but now it holds four bags of food. I wanted to shove more in but this way if Gorge or someone else takes off with the car. Well at least we will have something and they are unlikely to be any wiser till it's too late. I make a slow approach and take the car around to the barn. Tossing a few more bags in with Lucas. He looks at them and me and sits down looking across from me. Great, someone is in here with me.

"Darin?" I look back to see Hailee behind me.

"Hailee" I wave her over but she shakes her head no. "It's okay, how many came while I was gone?"

"Four"

"Anissa?"

"Woods"

"It's okay Hailee. Is it true that the infected don't attack you?"

"Yes"

"Okay, when I go inside the house I want you to join Lucas in here alright? He'll keep you safe"

"Okay"

"If you have to make your way to the center of the cages. I reinforced these to take a lot of damage. I'll take care of the problem and go find Anissa alright so don't worry about a thing."

"Okay" I double check my fridge, look under the scoop and startle. "Hailee, your really special. So I want to help you stay safe." I toss the sat phone in with her. "After I'm gone I want you to call the number on there okay. Just push power and hit call okay. Ask for Bishop and say code endjob okay, he will understand and come as fast as he can. If he doesn't answer just leave a message, can you do that for me?"

"Yep"

"That's my brave little girl. I'll try to take care of this really fast okay."

"Okay"

I walk out, pick a bunch of the bags up and walk back to the house as if I know nothing. I enter muttering about changing that gate lock and sneak past the living room as if I can't tell the lumps on the couch are not Anissa and Hailee. I am too tired and hungry for this. I dump my bags on the counter and head for the back door. A trip wire was set off and someone bleed on the floor. Awww! I missed someone face planting into the beam. I'm busy looking down but hear him try and sneak up on my from behind. So I pretend to scratch the back of my neck muttering about stupid people. I twist, draw and swing at the same time. Batter up. I connect with a dirty face and he goes down hard with a crash. He's out for the count so I hog tie him before heading out the back door. I locked the front so to get in you will have to break that door down, lol, or go through the window. I suppose they could burn it all down but that seems excessive. Oh, that door has a steal core in it. No way your breaking it down with your foot, maybe not even a car. Out in the open I let my eyes adjust to the darkness before leaving the safety of the shadows, only long enough to dash to the tree, then the barn. From there I spot Hailee in with Lucas. Ryan is glaring at the other end of the barn and I know where the next guy is at. She crawls closer to Nelle who takes up a protective stance with Lucas. "Keep her safe okay guys." I throw a few more bags inside my dig out hide-y hole as I walk across the barn. A little bold of me but it works. the inside is so dark, if you don't know the layout you'd never make it from one side to the other. The guy isn't even paying attention... he's sleeping on the job? I almost feel sorry till I notice he's already been knocked out and hog tied up. Aaa, probably Gorge then. I drag him inside and tie him outside of Yvonna's reach. She's not happy with me, pouting and everything but I give her a look, then hiss out my shh's when Mathew gets uppity about something. Anissa throws herself to the barn wall and sinks down low.

"Together?" I ask, her head snaps up and I hear her suck in air.

"Together" She double checks out her door and dashes towards me, skidding to a stop once more by my side. "Simply sophomoric, just what is even the point anymore? They never win long term."

"Drowning men dear"

"Don't dear me."

"Yes ma'ma" She snorts but lets it go "We got two, I was told four?"

"I got one tied up in the woods, but I'm having trouble finding the fourth one."

"I found Gorge. I think he got suckered into helping the wrong people. Hailee went missing on his watch."

"Is Gorge okay?" Hailee appears inside Yvonna's cage, she doesn't look impressed with this but stands guard over the little girl.

"Who was with Gorge back at Mac's?"

She starts crying and Yvonna looks irritated with me over this, thou she seems unsure how to help the girl. "Lily and gram-ma was taken. Gram-pa never came back. Gorge told to do something wrong. He didn't want too but..."

"They had Lily and gram-ma, it's okay I understand. Is that why you ran away then?" She nods her head a bunch and I point to the bags. "Eat something okay Hailee. I have one more bad man to find..."

"No you don't" Gorge walks in with another guy. "Hailee!" He dashes forwards seeing her inside the cages.

"You just had to ask man." I sigh as he looks sheepish at least.

"How do I ask that kind of favor? Mac wants your head on a platter. He wants Anissa in one piece but broken already."

"I called Bishop, he answered!" Hailee pips up with can in her hands, she goes to bash it into the ground and I stick my arm in to stop her without thinking about it.

"Oh Darin" Gorge hits the ground hard in front of me. My arm still inside the cage and Yvonna ignoring me.

"Yaa, I know." I take the can from her and use The naginta's blade to crack it open. "Did Bishop say if he was on his way?" I hand the can over and she nods her head yes shoving her little hand into the can of beans before stuffing it in her face. She looks dejected with the taste at first but keeps eating. "I think I saw some chef in one of the bags."

"Nice scattering the food around too" Gorge smirks at me. "If they saw the stuff inside these cages. They won't hesitate to opening fire on them to get at the food." I never even thought of that. "Thou Mac is running out of bullets he still has a few to get a few jobs done first. So what's the plan of attack now?"

I look around us, then head for the far mini fridge and pull a bottle out making him laugh at me. "...Now we tell Mac off."

Bishop is pissed with me. "You want to do what? That call was for emergency's only. I dropped everything and everyone to come out here and why hello you sweet little girl. You must be Hailee." Hailee pops her head in at the best of times.

"Yaa, that's part of the reason why. The other is to get Lisa and Mrs. Jordan out. After this we can move with you to the new location and help out there."

Hailee jumps up into his lap and calls out for the pony ride. Bishop seems to know what this is and starts bouncing her on his knee, she's delighted and giggling in no time. Tough army man's face is about to split in two he's trying to hide his grin so hard. "Okay fine. I'll help you with this crazy plan, then we're getting everyone out of here. I'll tell Kandace to send her cages over along with some back up fire power. I doubt we will have much if any time after an attack to make our get away so make sure everything is already packed up first. It will take a day to get everything set up anyway."

"Gorge already covered our home made explosives. We're packed up and ready to go." Bishop stops bouncing Hailee long enough to look up at me. "We are ready to go when ever you are."

"Oh. Proficient as always."

Anissa shouts out from the kitchen "Lunch is ready"

"I see you found someone's stash."

"Yaa. Mrs. Jordan's. It was hidden inside the walls and doors."

"Cleaver of her. Okay, so what are your plans for the next 8-10 hours it will take back up to arrive?"

"Plan. Make strategies. Rest." I sit down as Anissa hands out the meals to everyone.

"Yuck" Hailee pulls a face at our stir fry.

"Have no fear honey..." Anissa pulls out a smaller plate with toast and pears placing it down with a flourish much to Hailee's delight. "Brown sugar and cinnamon. One of my favorites as a child. Normally done with eggs but we don't have any of those, so caned pears it is."

"Don't spoil her already dear" I laugh at us. "Or you'll be making two meals for the rest of her life."

"That is a sacrifice I am willing to make dear."

I jolt at this, head snapping up to look at her then over at Hailee, turning my fork around I point it at Hailee, even as she giggles at me not keeping a straight face. "Spoiled rotten, I was told I was s.o.l if I didn't like my meal cuz she wasn't making two of them." Hailee grins like she knows something I don't before comping down on her toast.

"Kids" Bishop shoves a fork full into his mouth. "This is really good Anissa"

"Thank you" She grins at him, then pouts at me with my fork full half way to my mouth. I pause, eyes darting between the three of them.

"Yes very tasty as always." I haven't even had my first bite yet but it does the trick and all is right in the world once more.

"At least he knows what his brain is for." Bishop digs in making them laugh at me, I'll take the jib without any true complaint. Everyone is having a good time. A little forced but it's for Hailee's well being.

"Yaa sometimes I remember what it's good for."

A light atmosphere takes over. Silly chit chatter, not my strong point, fills the kitchen as we eat. Soon we send Hailee off to play outside, but to stay in the front yard where we can see her. Bishop takes up post right by the main window. listening to us but keeping an eye on the young girl. It's amazing that she's made it this far as healthy as she is. The odds were definitely stacked agents her. Yet here she stands jumping and playing with Arthur in the front yard. While we talk war tactics inside, 5 feet from her. I debate pulling out the new swing and setting it up for her but we will be leaving the farm tonight so there is no real point. We can't take her with us on the raid so she will have to stay here and stay hidden.

"Kids" Bishop watches her play tea party with a strange armament of baby toys and thin air. "Are truly amazing. She is bouncing back from her trauma's better then war harden men with full training."

"I think it's the lack of training that does it." I nod watching her myself. She presents something to them on a plate, so probably biscuits, of course it could be cake or cookies too. "They simply don't understand the severity of the situation so they can push past it. So long as the adults don't panic she has no reason to think that it's that bad."

"It's both healthy and unhealthy." Anissa sits down beside me, we watch for another moment as she curtsies about something before dancing with Arthur. "Is she bouncing back or is her brain choosing to forget it, pushing it all under the rug. This is alright for right now, so long as she gets taken care of she'll be fine. If it gets any worse this could prove to be a fatal error latter on in life should the memories resurface. Something could trigger it and have all this come crashing back down on her head. PTSD could still happen, her little brain is only doing whatever it can to make her life a little better right now. Something as simple and normal as breakfast with mom and dad's half felt argument can make all the difference, so long as she wins." She grins at me and I didn't even think about it like that. All thought way too young we basically, without concussions thought, have taken the young girl under our wings. That makes us her protectors and providers, aka parents. I thought I would panic with that train of thought, but I am calm, almost unfazed by it. "Your doing great dear."

"Together." I hug her in tight watching Hailee play, she stops what she is doing to look back behind the house before screaming and running towards the door. We're out of our seats and racing each other to be the first to her. I yank the door open, Hailee jumps into Anissa's arms as Bishop jumps out the door gun out and looking for trouble. "What's wrong Hailee?"

"Screamer"

"From the barn?" she shakes her head no and points to the back of the house.

"Infected shouldn't be able to get past our defenses without aid." I look at Bishop before glancing at the woman. "Take Hailee to the basement, we'll check it out." It's probably just Yvonna but to be safe I need them far away from this

"I should be going up, not backing myself into a corner." I twitch at this, right, they can go down the stairs but not up them.

"Bullets can't go through concrete as easily as plaster and wood." Bishop corrects her. "You can fight off what gets down till we get back, you can't stop the other things."

"Down it is." Anissa scoops Hailee up and runs towards the basement, Hailee cry's about Arthur but it's too late. I can see more creeping down the road. "Those are not infected." I nod towards the men as Bishop agrees with me. "I wounder if Yvonna smelt them and is trying to warn us."

"Unlikely" Bishop glances over his should at me, yes I know I'm being sentimental. "I would suggest using them to scare the men away but I believe they have guns so lets not."

"I would rather not find bullet holes in my family if at all possible."

"Wheres a sniper when you need them"

"On their way by now I hope"

"Where's Gorge?"

"...I don't know"

"He didn't turn on us did he?"

"No I gave him a shot of the enzyme."

"No, as in turncoat?"

"With his family in dangers way anything is possible, but he seemed confident in our plan when he left last night to stall Mac and company. Thou from what I hear I wouldn't put it past Mac to torture the info out of him."

"Or just kill him." Bishop watches the men stumble down the dirt road, one drops to his knees and vomits before going over sideways, his buddies scramble away from him. They just leave him there to fend for himself. "Even the dumbest of brutes would have figured out by now that vomiting can mean turning. At least they didn't put a bullet in his brain for getting sick."

"Others have done that? Getting sick doesn't mean the end for everyone, enzyme or not."

"Oh yaa, I found one little group of people that sneezing could equal a bullet to the brain. Got right testy with them for aiming a gun at my medics head for that. She has bad allergies." I nod and make a mental note. The medic that was working with Anissa sounded like a man to me, looked like one too but everyone looks similar with swat body armor on. Maybe it was a girl this whole time and I was being a doush without realizing it. "No you haven't meet her. I normally only bring men with me because people like Mac are out there, and after she got yanked on me twice I stopped bringing the woman. For fear of their safety, not a lack of trust in their skills."

"That's why I sent Anissa to the basement with Hailee. This keeps the woman out of harms way. The child is more likely to be soothed by a female presence and I can focus on kicking ass knowing there both as safe as their gonna get right now. I have faith in Anissa's skills and darker side to keep them safe till backup arrives in the event we don't make it out of here still breathing." I watch another guy fall out of a tree he was trying to climb and re-asses our odds, at this rate they will take care of themselves for us. "Should I head out back and circle around, take their snipers out?"

"No, I wouldn't put it past them to just be getting out of an infected swarm heading our way. Mac has used infected before this way right?"

"Yep, he sets them free on uncooperative people, his men always pay a price but it seems to be working for them. Lots of people join him simple to make him stop the attack."

"Hey Darin..." I snap my eyes over to him then back to the road. "Did you every think to analyze the vomit? It sounds gross but I was wondering if maybe a key is hidden in it at all?" He looks at me to see my mouth hanging open.

"I never even thought of that." Damn, we've been cleaning up and dis-guarding it. The body rejected something, violently so. Or was it the virus trying to get rid of something to finish taking over?

"Glade I could be useful around here after all."

"The amount of times you've saved our asses proved that many times over." He opens his mouth, closes it and nods with a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

"Alright, go wide, I'll hold the fort down till you get back and Darin... be safe out there man."

"Yes sir" I jump thru the trip wires, dodge the traps and duck for the beam. Crack that back door open, scan the area and make a mad dash across the yard. Once in the barn I find everyone is looking at me as I slid down the wall unable to breath. "Not a word from you buddy." I glare at Lucas looking down on me as Ryan snarls at the barn walls, scratching at something getting closer to me. So I jump up and dodge over to my stuff before tucking into a small covered corner. The poor guy walks right around the corner and into Mathew's reach trying to stealth his way around. He freaks out as Mathew starts dragging him closer. Another step and Ryan will be able to reach him too. A part of me whats him to die but a bigger part say's I shouldn't let my brothers be cannabises, even if they don't realize it. The guy does both of us a favor and puts a bullet in his own brain, he hits the floor dead and I wonder why he didn't turn the gun on my family. So once more back across the barn I drag the guy away from my family, much to their dis-test and check his gun out. Only one bullet. I'm confused, why send men in that only have one bullet? Then I see red as I realize they are the cannon fodder. Disposable to him. Their the scouts, if we can take them out he may think Gorge's cover story of the farm being over run as true. I could be saving us a lot of trouble. I look at my family and smile. Infected can't get in without help, I bet they won't be able to get out without it as well. This is dangerous. A deviation of the plan but we need more time and killing everyone won't help us, they would send more. I yank my trank gun and a few rounds out of their case before opening Lucas's cage open. He looks at me and Yvonna get's excited by this. She starts screaming at the top of her lungs and I have to tackle Lucas to get a rope around his ankle before setting him free. Next up is Yvonna. I have them tied to a post so as to release them all at once as I debate how to tie Ryan up. He's banging on the wall again so I open his cage and pull the rope to let the others loss. Yvonna sniffs the air and starts screaming again, Lucas and Ryan take off out the door. I hear a bunch of freaking out screams from the other side. I duck my head out the side and watch the other guys running for their lives. Ryan appears to be faster then one of them. He goes down and after a moment another gun shot is sounded and Ryan bellows in anger before getting back up. So the single bullet is for themselves, a fail safe. I am glad he didn't try and shoot Ryan, I honestly didn't think they could run that fast anymore. The other guy is screaming abort over and over again as he takes off for the front road. As he disappears around the tree running as fast as his legs can carry him I dash after them, Yvonna fallowing me for the time being. "Lucas stop" He falters in his steps but keeps going. I tell him to stop again and he looks back at me but keeps going after Ryan. Bishop jumps out the front door with his gun aimed at Yvonna behind me till I hold the rope up for him to see. Yvonna spins on a dime and starts screaming again pointing towards Bishop, Lucas stops and heads towards the house. Ryan bellows from the distance and I can't decide who to chase after. Bishop puts his gun down and gets ready to brawl, so I take off after Ryan. Who, oh so conveniently is running back in my direction. Right, the screamer issues commands. Yvonna chomps down on my arm and I cry out in pain. Human teeth are not sharp, but the jaw can still apply enough force to break bones. Without the brain telling you to stop before hurting yourself, your body can do some crazy powerful things. All those supper hero comics are onto something, if humans could withstand what we can do, we could all jump that high and break things with bare fist. It's only your brain saying stop before we accomplish the goal. Self preservation for the win. So all those stories about little old ladies lifting cars off their grand kids, yaa, that can happen. Just like the old farmer reaching to save someone from failing to their death. Despite being short a limb, yaa, the brain can trick your body into thinking that limb is still there helping. Right now my brain is screaming out danger, danger, so without a thought my body reacts to save it's self. Muscle memory takes over and I'm dislocating her jaw, to loosen the grip she has on my arm. Then I'm yanking her chain and sending her crashing to the ground as she screams for help. Her jaw is partly out of commission but you need the vocal cords to make any sounds. Oh and her brain is shut down and not telling her to stop before she hurts herself. I take the top mount potion and grapple her into submission. She's not thinking so this is easy. Then I see Ryan standing over me, I slap a hand over Yvonna's mouth to keep her from screaming out any coherent instructions. Lucas stands on the other side and I'm in so much trouble right now. Bishop tackles Ryan as Anissa latches onto Lucas.

"Back to the cages they go." Bishop body slams Ryan into the ground, temporarily knocking his brain around and dazing him. From there he help's Anissa submit Lucas. He picks Ryan up and starts hauling him away. Anissa and I simply have to keep them contained till he gets back to help.

"Brilliant dear." Anissa huffs out as Lucas try's to wiggle out of her hold.

"Flex!" I nod at her legs, he's working himself free, so she does and works herself down back into the right spot. Lucas deflates at this and pauses for a moment, as if thinking about this. Then I realize Yvonna is not giving him any orders at the moment so he's almost passive right now. I mean he's not trying to free himself, he's only trying to eat us for lunch. He's snapping at her arms but can't quite reach.

"This has possibilities I hope you know." Bishop is back and helping Anissa with Lucas, who can't decide who to snack on first.

"This is also extremely dangerous." Anissa scowls at me.

"I thought you said it was brilliant baby?"

She cracks a little around the edges. "Oh it is. But it's also stupid and dangerous and I'm mad at you, so stop looking at me like that." I pout some more and she caves in. "Okay fine, it has a lot of merit, now Gorge's cover story sounds more legit."

"Indeed." Bishop struggles a bit before getting a good hold on Lucas's head, then it's a simple matter of using the head as leverage to make the body move in the right direction. Your joints are the strongest part of your body, but they can be manipulated to someone else's advantage. Throwing a larger target isn't about strength but about making your opponent move for you, by manipulating their joins. The body, via command from the brain will go where you want it too, all to avoid unnecessary damage. That's why the little guy with something like BJJ training will toss the bigger boxer around and win. All the strength in the world won't do you any good if your enemy knows how to control your body like that. Yes sheer stubborn will power and a lot of muscle mass can achieve great things. It certainly makes a bunch of stuff easier, but it's not the be all end all so many make it out to be. "But possibilities here."

"Like what?" Anissa narrows her eyes at us.

"Like taking back the compound after this. If he can walk around them without being attacked and still do his braininess thing, we could take it back without any losses, on either side." My back straightens up as Anissa pauses mid walk to think about it. Damn, he's right. I can walk through a horde of them and not one of them will try and eat me, but I still have a functioning brain. I could work the elevators, get to the right section and cause them all to go to sleep. After the fog lifts the army comes in and contains them. Rinse and repeat till their all caught. Badda bing badda boom, compound retaken and research started back up. Possibly without anyone, not even an infected losing their life over it.

"That's a pipe dream, we would still loss many. Yvonna turned on Darin, she knew he wasn't one of them after certain actions were taken. So simply taking the elevator down could signal the rest that he's not infected like them. Then he's left surrounded and massively out numbered." Aka dead meat. Bishop hauls Lucas up and Anissa helps me with Yvonna. Lucas get's tossed on his bed and doesn't move fast enough to get out before the door slams in his face. I struggle with Yvonna for a moment but soon enough I'm sitting beside Anissa with her face in the scoop. "Interesting, her system seems to have two of the tree beaten."

"Is she immune?" Bishop wanted to look but couldn't make heads or tails of what he was seeing.

"No, well, kinda sorta not really. I guess a key component is in that third strain making it stronger then the rest. So while she is unlikely to turn with the first two she could still go crazy on us. She would eventually sub come to the first two as well, it will only take longer. Her body made it's own version of the enzyme basically."

"This gives hope that the human body could defeat this virus on it's own, given the time and resources it needed."

"But the virus doesn't let them have those things."

"It's a high jacking of the brain's higher functions is what it is. To prevent it's host from seeking out what it needs to get better."

"At least it's not compelling us to our death, it's only trying to spread around."

"We don't eat, I'm pretty sure that falls under 'compelling us to our death' idea."

"Well, not really. There's a few out there that compel their host to literally kill themselves. Like the one that makes the cricket jump into the water. The cricket would have lived out it's normal life span if not for the parasite. The crickets death is another stage in it's life. The virus is co-dependent on both the host and the cold or flu bug it's sneaking a ride on. First it needs the cold bug to start lowering the immune system. Then it helps to lower it some more, after the flu has weaken our immunity enough it starts to take over. From there it co-depends on us to keep it alive and spread it around."

"This virus isn't that strong, so it makes us less hungry to help lower our immune system, the weaker that is the stronger it seems. I bet most, if not all of this world was infested with the virus before we even knew it was a thing. Even before the first people turned into the infected." I pause looking back at my family, a part of me desperately hoping the cure is found soon. Even they won't last much longer without real food in their system


	19. Chapter 19

It's another three hours of staring down a scoop for us, then another hour double checking plans. A small meal and a nap later I wake to Bishop telling me back up has arrived. Lots of back up. Kandace comes bounding around the corner with a bag full of something. She crashes into Anissa with a bear hug before pulling me in as well. Her bag has a collection of clothing for Hailee to pick through if she would like any of it. They still have price tags attached to them. So big bad Kandace made a bunch of military men divert from their mission to get a little girl some new clothing. I crack a smile at this and she chooses to be obtuse on purpose. Inside the chopper I see she picked up some toys as well. She will stay behind with Anissa and the other woman that came along to keep an eye on Hailee. I worry about their safety till I learn several were mothers before this. I now pity the fool that try's for this farm while the men are away. Haille just got like 20 plus adoptive mothers, she'll be fine. Loaded for bear I hop into a jeep that was air lifted here and find out those choppers have enough fuel for two more trips. After that it's land travel for a very short time before were stuck on foot for the duration of this trip thou hell. I'm in charge of keeping the exit clear if Bishop sends the guns in. A description of who we're looking for is all they have to go off. So I hope nobody gets shot by mistake.

We approach a junk gate and fence system that has been cobbled together. Some parts of it are cars stacked on each other. Some are metal/wire fenced sections that are zipped tied together. It's shambled in some places, but someone took the time to make wooden look outs at regular intervules. Most are even maned.

"Sure you still wanna do this? There's a lot of potential innocent people down there."

I debate with my self for a moment, there is no need for this attack, we are leaving right away. Still a part of me is sure that this is the right move to make. "Yes, he needs to be taught a lesson, maybe we can find said innocent people and take them out of harms way. If it's every man for himself and little kids are left to fend for themselves I'm willing to bet a lot of people don't want to be there. They don't have a choose."

"Then it's show time." He slaps me on the back and sits back on his heels. "There doesn't appear to be any snipers from the recon that's been done. Still I don't want to face the wrath of your girl so wear this." he hands me a helmet with some extra stuffing inside. I realize it's bullet proof one, so only my neck, part of my face and joints will be exposed and in danger. I sigh putting it on, I'm going to look silly but I guess it's better then dying. I would never hear the end of it then. I saunter on down the hill side, the road looks empty but I know there is about 30 well trained military men around me. Then causally make my way with mega phone in hand to the front gate. There are two guys on each side, all looking at me their hands reaching for their guns. I throw a hand up to wave at them. They still reach for their guns, guess they ran across a few smart ones trying to play non-infected as well. So I raise my mega phone up and call out to them. "Hey there!" Talking is a sure fire way to say I'm not infected. They instantly relax at this. "I'm looking for the man in charge, is he around by any chance?"

Someone pulls their own mega phone out to respond. "Yaa Mac's around, who are you and what do you want?"

I smile to myself, if they knew me they would know that's a bad sign. "I want to negotiate his terms of surrender to me." As predicted they laugh at me. "It's fine I got a few if he needs some time to think about what he needs out of this deal."

"Kid" He laughs at me. "It's one vs 50 guns. Mac anti surrendering to you anytime soon."

"Young adult acutely, I'm not a kid. And just because you have guns and I don't doesn't mean your going to win, Let Mac know Darin Harlan is here to see him."

Sure enough my name grabs someone's attention, before the guy can respond his buddy to his left whispers something in his ear. He nods him in to the town before giving me a hard long stair. "Ok Darin, Will get Mac for you. Anything else?"

"Yes" He looks a little shocked at this. "I need to make an call over your pa system if you have one." He shakes his head muttering something, I think he said ballsy but I could be wrong. Either way his buddies nod in agreement. I'm left waiting for all of 15 minutes before the gates swing open.

"Hey" I wave at the three men approaching me. "You look important so you must be Mac."

"Yes I am, Darin. So I hear you think I will be surrendering to you, yet I have all the guns and you only have a stick."

"Bo."

"You can't shoot an arrow with that."

"Aaaa... Bo means staff in Japanese. I have a staff not a stick, see no random twigs sticking out. Just one solid smooth piece, that makes this a staff, or a Bo, and not a stick. Big difference, thou in a pinch I could wield a stick with the same results." I'd tell him to ask Lucas about that but he can't answer him right now. This is funny watching his face darken the longer I'm talking. Something about the end of the world as I know it has had a bad influence on my sense of humor. I swear I wasn't this twisted before. "Anyway, I'm going to get to the chase. I don't have all day after all, I still need to make a big move, help plan a counter attack on the compound. Reinforce some cages and round up a few things. Preferably before supper, it's my turn to cook and I want to treat Anissa to something nice. So anything to help move this along would be great. I'll be flexible if you hurry with a list of things you want out of this deal and I'll see what I can make happen for you."

He starts laughing at me and I feel my face scrunch up, I hate it when people don't take the easy route I give them. Ryan at least learned that I meant it when I said it was time to give up about half way through his chess games. He would look at me, look at the board, I'd play out the next few moves and what he was planning and end up taking his king. So after a few of these take downs he started knocking his king over when I went on like that. Mac, clearly thinks he can't be out smarted by a young adult like me. He finally stops laughing but still slaps at his knee. "Okay kid, and here I thought you wouldn't have a sense of humor. So say I do surrender, what do you plan on doing with my people?"

"Hmmm, well not to much. They could stay here or they could fallow us in taking back the compound, those walls at least are not cobbled together and much more stable. From there they will be assigned a task and a duty to a cretin locations while I keep working on a cure, you do want that right?" He's temped, I can see it in the way his body leans to one side, fingers stroking his jaw line. I think it's an old habit from when he had a beard. "From there it's really same old same old in a better secured area. I will leave it up to them, I don't even necessarily want to over throw you, I'm looking for recrutes at this point."

"No need for wasted man power with a shoot out? Oh wait, there won't be one cuz I got all the guns and ammo. Plus a friend of your's acting as a hostage. So I don't see why I would surrender to you?"

"My friend will understand. Do you have a pa system?" He nods yes. "Great, why don't I make an offer and then you can decided to start a fire fight or not? "

"Sure, but my men are loyal to me." He's humoring me, but from what I gathered from George he's men are not loyal to him, their scared of him. He flips out a walkie-talkie, George said the system was all connected to a speaker that had one of those placed in front of it. Simple and crud but effective. "Okay listen up everyone." His voice crackles from a speaker not far from here, so he is broadcasting. "I got a kid here by the name of Darin Harlan. One of them science geeks that was plastered all over the news before the infection took over." He's trying to turn them agents me before I even speak, discrediting me with my age and their fear that I maybe responsible for all this. Internally I'm lmfao. "He wants to know my terms of surrender but wants to say something to you first. So listen up good. You got five minutes boy."

He hands the walkie talkie over and I plaster that smile on my face, big and wide. It's a little unsettling and kinda hurts but I have everyone's attention now.

"Hey everyone, Darin here. I don't have all the time in the world so I wanted to see if anyone wanted to join me in taking back a more secure compound not that far from here. I can't promise much more then additional security. I haven't been to the compound in months now, but it comes with a lab I need to keep working on the cure. I believe I may have solved two out of the three strains. You may have noticed that there are three different kinds of infected walking around, each one was infected with one of these three strains. That's why it's taken so long to get this far. But back at that compound I will have a proper working lab and things will go much smoother. You may have noticed that all the near by food is gone by now, it's a matter of time before you all start starving to death. The compound may have food to keep us going for longer. There was a massive garden in there that should be full of fruits and veggies by now." I watch Mac's face fall, I can promise several thing he can't. "Should Mac choose to open fire on me instead of letting you leave simply lay down your weapons and assume a surrender pose. It'll let the army men with me know to leave you alone." Mac's head snaps up looking into the trees as Bishop lands beside me. A bigger gun now waving in Mac's face has everyone out here frozen. "I know Mac took many of you under his forced wings, so I am giving you a chance to walk away free now and join us. Maybe you can help provided a cure for all this madness. I would also requested the help in locating a few dear friends of mine, they go by the names of Lily, Mr and Mrs. Jordan and George. They were looking after a little girl named Hailee, she's safe and sound with me right now." Mac is going to pop his only brain cell at this rate, he's getting red at a dangerously face pace. "I offered him the chance to surrender and have everyone come with me but I'm not sure he wants it, then again you have how much food stashed under your house Mac? A whole three months worth I believe? It isn't very nice of you to hoard while everyone else is forced to go without several times a week." I can hear a commotion going on inside, a few rounds go off then there's a large crash. Some more shouting and screaming, cursing, people come running up to us as Mac goes whiter then Nelle mid winter. "So Mac, wanna surrender or duke it out?" Look, I even did that in under five minutes, go me. A woman is holding a bag out in front of her screaming at Mac for lying to them, saying there was nothing left, her son died two days ago and Mac had the food and medication he needed to keep breathing. The guy beside him lunges forwards screaming bloody murder and something about revenge for his son. Look mom, I started a coo. I stand by and watch the man's hands wrap around Mac's neck and start squeezing. "I said I don't have all day, I got some very important things to do and I promised a nice dinner for Anissa, just the two of us." I pause remembering I still have the walkie talkie in front of me. And it's still broadcasting. I feel my brain freeze and face heat up as some lady aww's at me. "So you interesting in surrendering yet or do you wanna deal with that first?" My head nods towards the gate, there coming out of their homes by the droves. Bags already packed and ready to go. Guess George was able to talk to a few people before seeing Mac. He looks back at his men on the gate putting their weapons down as army men land beside them, he watches the man in front of him bare down with murder in his eyes, then his hands go up in surrender. "Great to see you have a brain and know how to use it. You can let him go now, he'll pay for everything later on, I swear." The guy tightens his hold for a second but lets go, drops his gun and walks back to the lady holding the bag, she collapses into him and drops the bag. A bottle rolls out, down the slight hill towards me and I crack around the edges reading the label. "You had cancer medication and refused to give it to a someone in need?" I nearly boil over and see red, my Bo is in motion but Bishop shoulder checks me, throwing my aim off. It slams into the ground millimeters from Mac's face as his hair and cloths move in the after air flurry caused by the staff. His eyes go wide as Bishop snarls in my ears.

"He'll pay later, keep your world or loss some."

I yank on my training, wishing I had spent a little more time mediating with dad and Lucas, breathing in deep throw my nose and exhaling slowly out my mouth. "Fine, if you wish to join us, grab your things and anything that might be useful at all. The compound was taken over by infected, it won't be pretty getting it back, but it will prove to be a safer location. We have a back up location that will temporarily hold us for the time being." I toss the walkie talkie at the first guy I can. That went off better then I hoped for. I thump the ground in front of Mac with the Bo. "Where are my friends?"

"Mr. Jordan never made it back from a food finding mission, along with six other men, I'm assuming they were taken out by the infected. George is with his mother and girl, unharmed even after losing Hailee. Thou I was tempted to beat him for losing a kid like that."

"You sent him to capture me." He nodded at this. "Then you sent the wrong person."

"I see that now. I didn't know he was your friend, he took the mission from someone else. I'm guessing to warn you, then lost Hailee before he could complete it."

"Last I saw them they were headed out to the bonnies and a log cabin, far away from anyone else. How did you happen along them?"

"I collected them as I went. We stripped a place bare then moved on to the next place. Relocating as need be, as often as need be to keep everyone feed, to pick up survivors as go. Safety in numbers after all. I found them on the side of the road, broken down van and infected moving in on their location. Poor guy was doing his best with a stick to keep them away but there was too many of them. He flung it around, you do not."

So he was copying the moves he had seen me practicing. Intimation is the sincerest form of flattery they say. "I have been training almost all of my life with these kinds of weapons, I could swing a sword as effectively as the staff. I can toss men 3 times my size with little to no effort away from me. I know how to dislocate a join or break bones with out a thought because I live and breath the old ways of bushido, the way of the warrior. I don't need guns to take an enemy down."

"Your a scary person knowing all that now."

"If I scare you, be thankful your dealing with me."

"Why?"

"Because I look like a beginner compared to my brother, my father was a master of four different skill sets, I barley have a black belt in one."

"Then I'll thank my lucky star it's you and not one of them."

Bishop snorts at my side rubbing his jaw. "Can't say I got that same warning when we fist met. I got a staff to the side of the face before watching his father take out 10 stat troopers without a weapon. I didn't know anything was wrong till the bodies hit the ground, almost like domino's"

"I pissed the wrong family off, got yaa. Darin." I swing my head back around to look at him. "You have another friend inside the skating rink in town. We found him wondering around the other day..."

"Crispin!" I take off into the city, pushing past people, shoving a few out of my way. "Wheres the rink?" I pause long enough to ask a guy helping someone out with their cart of stuff. Mostly useless from the looks of it but whatever.

"That way" He points to the east of us and I'm off at a run.

A block over Lily waves at me helping Mrs. Jordan out of the house. "Darin! George went to the rink, down that street..."

"Thanks Lily." I take off the way she pointed and rush up to the doors, only now realizing Bishop has not left my side in the mad dash. I come to a grinding halt in front of the doors. There is no way to tell what's on the other side, I could be releasing a flood of infected by opening them. I breath in deep and start looking for a way up, there should be windows around here somewhere. Bishop calls for back up and rope to contained Crispin with pointing to the side of the building. I'm about to head out to the back when the front doors crash into the building. So we race back around to the front to see George trying to pin Crispin, who's trying to take a chunk out of George. I yell out at him "Crispin stop trying to eat our friend!" before pointing at George. "Let me handle him..."

"You already did." We all pause to see Crispin looking at me, side glancing at George. "How are you feeling? You look a little flush."

"Terrible." I have been running a fever for a while now. "But I came running when I found out about Crispin so don't worry about me. Crispin?" He looks at me, then looks at George and Bishop then back to me. "No eating our friends." He pouts at me as I tie him up. "Come this way for food." He fallows behind me and I have to restrain him when we get closer to the other people. "Crispin no." I march my friends out, hop back into the jeep and head back to the farm, leaving Bishop's men to deal with all of that. They can't get a lift back anyway, they will be walking it. So hopefully no one turns and no one dies on the way to the secure location I was talking about.

I'm getting everything done today! Back at the farm I show Kandace how to reinforce the transportation cages. Help Bishop plan the compound attack. I rounded up some wild flowers and place them in the vase before making supper and even got some work done with all the new samples I have. Bishop is twitchy with Anissa staying with me for the night but lets it go, I think he recalled the last time he tried to separate us and how badly that ended. Hailee is placed in special care with several woman tending to her, she still has Aurther with her and I smile to myself. I did good with that. Still, I uprooted everyone from their home and sent them out on the open road, how will they fair like that? George assures me that Mac never lost a person in travel mode but I can't help but worry. Anissa sleeps beside me, star fished out this time, door partly open. It's going to be a rough few days, but with any luck on our side we will have the compound back by the end of the week.

Bishops voice barks thought my ear piece. "Alpha go. Bravo cover. Charlie flank. Delta stand by" I hate it, but I stand by. This was my plan why am I back here? I look to my left and see Anissa and Kandace pressed into the wall. "Echo on Delta, stay with our smarty pants group and keep the scientist alive." Right, that's why I'm on stand by, my brain is more important then my fighting skills right now. I am also a melee combatant while the army likes to fling bullets around. Everyone inside the next four levels are out for our blood, we need to secure this main floor first. Then make our way down three more levels to get to the labs. Bullets will clear this faster. But it's good to have a sword, a bow and brute strength behind me again. Sadly it's not my brothers, but Kandace is as good as Lucas, I trust Anissa's aim and the new guy has a one punch knock out left hook. My face still hurts. Plus 15 men behind me carrying automatic big ass guns is making me feel confident with this plan. We only need to clear this first level and the last one, the infected are going to be put to sleep and used to confirm these possible antidotes. I say possible because they haven't been tested yet. This is a gambit, and it has to pay off. Satalities have shown almost everyone is infected. Humanity is circling the drain. If this doesn't work it's only a matter of time, a very short time before we run out of food and turn ourselves. This last month has been the longest and shortest of my life. I am ready to end this, one way or another.

I hear the guns go off ahead of us. Adrenaline fires through my veins, my hear rate jumps up. I can feel it pounding away in my chest. Every little sound draws my attention, lights and shadows play games on my eyes. Anissa bumps into me, my eyes dart over and my attention is captured. We have come so far, been thru so much. I see her eyes are red rimmed, Choles little helper wearing off, I know my eyes are more red then her's.

"Together"

"Together." I take a moment to wrap my arms around her shoulder, foreheads pressed together and hot breath on my face. I pull back nodding at Kandace, her eyes even more red then mine. She's about to turn, could be any minute now. That's why Anissa and I have the access codes to the labs down there. So does half the army guys behind us, with everything they need to test one last time before mass production can begin to solve everything. Or before eating a bullet because it didn't work and there' no one left. Humanity's death grip on life is slipping. I take a moment to look back at the choppers behind us. My family and friends are in containers, locked up tight and comatose at the moment. Completely helpless should anyone still human come along them while we are away. The odds are extremely slim, there are still pockets of humans out there. But for how much longer? Who doesn't get sick sooner or later? Who ever made this virus was either viscous or too smart for there own good. It worked too well, then it mutated on them. The guns get farther away from us, and Bishops voice is in my ears again. Move forwards so many yards, we're not to get separated from the main group by much. I guess we are covering their retreat in a way. Of course retreat is not an option, it's do or die time. My feet move forwards, my eyes sharpen as I focus more. Feeling feet pound the ground behind me I take point, Kandace to my left, new guy right behind her and Anissa to my right. This formation allows the guns behind us to shoot us if we turn at any point in time. I can feel the need to tear into flesh surge in me. Several people behind me are not infected at all. I turn this need out to the ones between me and my goal. Fueling my rage I storm ahead, battle cry at the ready. Kandace's head snaps to her left as something comes tumbling out of an air duck. The infected bounces up and turns to the ones behind us. He ignores us, turns his back to us, then dies for this move. Without mercy Kandace takes him down without missing a step he's tossed to the side and I hardly had to pause my two steps it took her to swing that sword. We're back in motion, as we round another corner Anissa shots off an arrow making the treat dead before it was even a problem. The six that fallow it are minor distractions at best. My staff lifts one up like target practice. Kandaces kodashi is blur as the other guy pumbles another one. The army give off a short burst and the last two fall over. I'm about to bring my staff down on another head when he shows me his face. I manage to pull my shot enough to graze by his head.

Kandace screams out "Don't shot" Using her own body as a shield in a wide stance. Mr. Sabb is a wreck. At least he isn't covered in blood, nobody has died at his hands as an infected. He blinks at this and starts crawling towards the army, who point guns back at him. "Daddy don't" Kandace pulls on his sleeves, he looks up at her, looks back at the army and gruggles out something. "Not know, fallow me" He keeps looking back but he gets up and fallows her. Either he's mindless or a smart one fallowing another smart one's lead. He's clumsy so I don't know how much longer he will retrain this level of intelligence to not mindlessly attack, unless he's a smart one. They seem to hold it together a lot longer then the others. Guns click empty ahead of us and some of our people start screaming. Bishop is requesting backup so we spring forwards. Guns clear faster, but you waste a lot of ammo with them in the process. I charge right into the middle of the masses surging forwards, Anissa at my back with her naginta out now. Kandace takes her dad off to the side sending the big brute to back us up. Her goal is to keep the army off her dad right now. She can fend for herself, so I have to resort to bashing head in while the army reloads. They only have a finite amount of bullets per floor we're clearing. So they can't use them all up before even getting to the target location, never mind holding that location while we can hopefully by pass the other two floors. There are a few bellows sounding ahead of us. The very reasons we didn't try and sneak in. Crazy's can tell we're not friends, they often attack the partly turned. Grabbing the mindless masses attentions and dooming the ones that don't completely belong. We need to clean this up faster. "Bishop!" I point towards the incoming, several ragging crazy's are foaming at the mouth. They have gone beyond the point of no return. So he opens fire on them. Watching people drop dead and roll, causing a chain reaction of tumbling bodies like domino's behind them is comical. In a morbid kind of way. That first row is dead. the second row is probably dying, critically injured or crippled. The 3ed row are dazed, the fourth row goes around them and keeps coming. We're up again. I must admit I am getting tired already, I'm resorting to batters swings. Hand to hand combat battles don't last this long. At least they shouldn't. It wouldn't be so bad if I'm wasn't partly sick, partly taken over by a virus, half starved and exhausted. I never was one for rage fighting, so my anger is not carrying me very far. The new guy behind me, he's rage is carrying him fine so I wave him forward, taking up a protective stance to his right and Anissa fallow suite to his left. He get's to bash heads in, we get to conserve our energy. We tear through the masses, making a hole for Bishop's men. We get a chance to rest while his men tear a hole into the next batch. Then we're back up, then it's them again. Finally I spot the elevator doors that we need. It's my turn to use myself as a shield. The doors open wide, Chole is on the other side. She blinks in shock at this, I jump towards her, arms out wide. "Don't shoot!"

She screams spotting the army with a few dozen guns pointed at her face. "Please don't shoot!"

"What?" Anissa blinks at her talking to us. "Infected don't have speech" A closer look reveals blood shot eyes still. "Explain!"

"I don't know!" Chole cowers behind me, her eyes wide in fear as they dart around trying to keep too many things and people in her line of vision. "I woke up last night, I have been trying to get out since then. I thought the infected running away from this door was my chance"

"Chole" I place both hands on her shoulder, then one under her chin to raise her face up to see mine. "Is the lab intact?"

"Your infected too." She spots the red in my eyes fast enough, she side glances at Kandace and frowns spotting Anissa.

"Yaa, most people are. Is the lab usable at least?" It was our biggest fear, that we would get down there and it would be trashed.

"Ummm, kind of, I guess that depends on what you need"

"Not a lot, but we may have a cure for all of this, do you know a safe route to and from the labs?"

"The air ducks are the safest way around, but there is a route you can take by foot, if your nimble enough"

"That explains the guy falling out of the air vent." Kandace reroutes her dad from chewing on someones neck. "Darin, I'm not sure we should trust her"

"We have never seen an infected revert back before, it could be from her enzyme. Maybe the mutation caused a weakness the enzyme took advantage of. Either way, once turned they never regain vocal control again. So what happened, why can she speak to us again? Why is she not lunging for someone's throat? Why do I want to kill her?" I look back at Kandace and she nods in agreement as Chole shrivels away from me

"I feel the need to infect her, but not at the same time"

"Could the body be winning agents the virus on it's own terms?" Anissa steps forwards causing Chole's eyes to flash in anger.

"Really?" I slant my weapon between them, my eyes are flat and unimpressed with this right now. "Green eye this shit latter, we need back in that lab are you going to help or not?"

She backs away from my unfriendly tone but nods. "Fine, I can show you the way I took to get out after one of the infected attacked me. I figured they all would and did my best to avoid them."

A large part of me wants to trust Chole, another part of me say's the virus may have mutated to help it finish the job it started just 6 months ago. Dear lord, six months was all it took to bring the human species to it's knee's and brink of death. Okay, it was closer to one year to infect almost everyone, but only six months after that to almost kill us all off. I wave her ahead of us and she protest.

"Shouldn't the army go first?"

"The're behind us in the event that we turn, orders are shot to kill fyi." I wave her on again as she gulps a lump down.

"We are going to the 3rd floor down, there waiting en-mass at the bottom of the fourth floor. From there we will have to scout half way across the compound in the wrong direction to find the right air vent to take us down to the fourth floor. Then we get to take the scenic route back to the labs."

"Makes sense" Kandace nods in agreement. "Not much was over that way, but we will have to pass in front of the busted cages from the sounds of it." aka, a perfect set up for an ambush spot. "Not the most out of the way plan, but not too far off from it. Darin" Kandace lets me take lead and I get into the elevator with them.

I push hold for a second, gaining Bishops attention "Someone will come back up with a code if it's safe"

"If not we will head to the fourth floor and continue as planned"

I let the doors close and Chole plays petty games with Anissa, trying to grab my hand as if she's scared, I finally shove her head into the elevator wall growling out my warning. "I'm only going to say this once. Keep your hands to your self. I know you have fighting skills, use them or get out of our way" It's enough to finally make her quite and stay in her corner. I may have hours, days if I'm lucky before turning. I don't have time to play Chole's games, I won't go out like that. I won't let Anissa endure it anymore, she may go last and I won't have her doubting anything that has happened between us. Just to be safe I pull her in close, whispers into her ears to ignore Chole and her crap. She nods her head whispering back, together. She knows where she stands, it doesn't bother her anymore. She almost feels sorry for Chole. Kandace clears her throat as the elevator slows down, it's our stop so we put a little space between us. We need the most room to swing our weapons. The doors not even all the way open when I leap out of it. Weapon posed to sweep legs out or bash someones head in. My heart is in my throat. Nobody is in front of me, I feel like a fool.

"Okay rambo coast is clear, now who is going back up?"

"You" I point my look at Kandace. She never even bothered to get out of the elevator, she shoves Chole forwards and pushed more buttons. It takes a few minutes but soon enough we have six army men with us. The rest are staying to hold that opening, we better make it fast. If all goes according to plan they can join us in two hours after we put all the infected to sleep on all the floors. From there everyone will be locked into certain areas to make walking about easier for us. I point forwards and Chole takes lead, Anissa right behind her, naginta raised for a killing blow should it look like she may have set a trap for us. Either we're really paranoid or losing our grip on our sanity.

To say we are shocked to make it all the way to the labs without seeing a single infected is putting it mildly. Not a single one. A look at the security cameras still working show why. Damn, if we had popped the fourth floor elevator door open we would have been swarmed, there crowding the hallways past the camera's view. Same with the second floor, third one is empty.

"As far as I can tell they never left the lunch room or work stations." Chole nods at the only 3rd floor camera working. It's office building like on that floor. Hallways and section off areas with cubicles on one side and a massive lunch room on the other. I do mean massive, like half a floor, around 5,000 square feet massive. It's the only one in the whole compound, meant to be breakfast, lunch and supper area for everyone that would live and work here. Some 15,000 people need a large space to eat. There were plans to have a second one on the other side built but it hadn't happen yet. Bonus to this single idea was that you could grab food and head back to your living area if you wanted too. Simply bring the tray back or let other personal know about it and they would pick it up at a designated time.

Kandace is typing away at a computer, inputting a few things, cursing at something before feverishly typing out something new. "Damn-it"

"What now?" The army guys are getting twitchy down here.

"I need to auto adjust a few things, some of the vents are shut down, this canister needs to be replaced. I can't be in four spots at the same time"

"Time to slip up then" I nod at the army guys in front of me. "Should have brought more men down"

"Too little too late" one agrees with me. "Two per person?"

"That will leave two without backup. Chole can stay here, she won't need it. Neither will I" Anissa loges her complaint at this but I glare her down. "Chole will be here, I'll take the most dangerous. Your getting two to watch your back. Kandace needs two to watch her encase she turns. New guy needs more help then I do, no offence"

"My names Christopher, not new guy. Thanks for the vote of confidence"

"Offence was not meant, I am having trouble remembering names these days okay. Your brute force, guns equals weapons" He paused with his hand up, protest cut off before he can make it. He nods his head lowering his arm. "Chole can close the door and hide if need be. What's the most dangerous part of this?"

"This air vent" Kandace points to the third floor air vent that's registered as closed. In the cafeteria, the middle of it... there's no way I'm crawling through those tiny air ways, so I gotta go throw them or pray there is no crazy's to let the others know I'm not really one of them yet.

"Looks like fun, safest?"

"Anissa is needed here, you have to input the highest level possible in the sleeping gas computers to have any effect on this many at once. It's not the safest or closes, but it's where she's needed." I nod letting her lay out the plan for me. "Christopher can go here, it's the easiest one. I'll go here, the closes so at least I know I'll get my job done. If I don't the army can take care of me, it and get back to Chole faster."

"Fine" I nod and everyone peels off, mini groups already assigned. "Chole" She waves me away, choosing to sit in her chair and spin herself around.

So off we take, I travel with Anissa for as long as I can. Agony and fear making it hard to leave her side. The only reason I'm still standing is her relentless vigil at guard duty. Now I have to trust two unknown men, with guns pointed at her head with orders to kill if she turns, to keep her safe. It should be me watching her back. Together, we promised that no matter what, it would be the two of us. But we can't be together in two places at once and we are running out of time. So I let her go and pray it's not the last time I see her.

Chole is right. The infected appear to be in the cubical or cafeteria. It's their only options, but the hallways are creepily deserted. My luck holds out, there are several crazy's in here. Their sniffing the air, trying to locate me. In this larger a crowed they are having difficulties. When someone lashes out at a random mindless the closes ones attack back. The human still inside is starting to starve and will be looking for food. Any kind of food. The crazy beats a few of them to death before being taken down. I try to move like them, I try to mimic their swaying clumsy movements. But I get a few looks. I'm the only one holding onto anything. I wonder if I might look like a smart one to them, maybe their waiting on orders or something. I keep moving towards my goal as another crazy lashes out a little closer to me. The guy beside me makes eye contact and I point at the crazy, suddenly 10 people beside me charge at him. Another guy looks at me and I point at another crazy. He takes the hint and charges with another dozen people fallowing his lead. It's the distraction I need, in the chase that explodes around me I make a mad dash for the air vent. It's up high and I need a lift. I flag a tall guy down and point up, he looks confused till I point at his shoulders. He grunts at me and try's getting on a chair, I have to help him then climb my way up to his shoulders. I'm almost done opening the vent when a crazy starts screaming. I know I'm busted when buddy chomps on my leg. I scream right back at him. My only thought is not now, I'm almost done. The room halts and a few more scream at me. Done what? I glance up into the supper new, shiny and reflective surface of the air vent and sigh. My eyes are blood shot, seeping red into the outer corners. I got two hours tops. It's why I can understand them so well, why they are responding to my commands. This also means I'm classified as a smart infected. I'll probably be a screamer knowing my luck. With my training and background that's dangerous, much like Yvonna was. I feel the tears prick at my eyes. I was hoping for a few days still. Anissa has about a week ahead of her alone. This could also mean that Kandace has turned as well. I scream out my frustration, I'm busy trying to save everyone. Crazy screams no and the rooms explodes again, their fighting each other, the ones closes to me more savage then the others. It's like their feeding off my emotions as well. I put the thought away and finally reef on the vent hard enough to open it up. I hit the floor and have someone dive bomb me, as teeth sink in again I bellow out in anger. All this biting is passing this virus around faster, taking more time from me. Get off me! I watch three woman rip the guy off me, then tear into him, through his stomach. I almost lose my last meal. I start screaming again. Stop, stop this madness! There's no need to kill each other. I bail on my group, only to find a few chasing after me. Close the doors! The trailing few pivot on their feet to fallow my command. Barracked it now. Again they fallow my command. Part way back to the others I make the few that got out with me hide in another room. Connected to a vent as well. Stay here, I'll be back shortly. They huddle into the corner and wait for my return. I'll head here after I let the others know my job is done. I won't endanger them but I don't want to die either. So I'll leave them and hide out with the rest.

I'm flooded with re leave seeing one of the guys that went with Anissa already back, he's covered in blood but it all seems to be blow back. I walk in ready to make my announcement when Chole try's to distract me, right in my face trying to make me back out. I grab her shoulder and shove her to the side. I see a lot of blood on the second guy, but he's dead. "Where is she" I turn on the guy at the door. My Anissa is not in this room.

"Here" He points to a spot on the map. "We got cut off from each other..."

I bellow at this. "And you just left her!"

"She is still making her way to her objective..." I'm out the door before he finishes, yelling back that my vent was open. I pick my guys back up, just encase. I boldly waltz thru the hallways, war marching my way to her. Screaming out for reinforcements, just encase. I end up pulling a dozen more infected to me. This has benefits right now I could get use too. I enter the hallways to see Anissa stuck in the corner, beating some people back. She's stuck and a crazy is foaming at the mouth. I let another scream go, get away from her! Crazy looks back at me, screaming in my direction, a few fallow his orders but my scream has a bunch turning on him. My guys out number his by almost four to one. I take a swing at the crazy to draw his attention, he's most content to go after Anissa but I yank him back down to me. He's crazy, but he's also starving. I bash my staff at his head, missing a few times before finally connecting. He's dazed and someone stops me before I can swing again. Anissa has tears in her eyes after spotting mine.

"Together?"

"I did my best but..."

"Together" I make the group stop attacking each other, restrain the crazy one and toss him into his own room. They keep moving at her but I scream out no and they listen. "So your a smart screamer I guess"

"That's bad, not funny"

"I think it's funny. Will they listen for long when I'm not as close as you?"

"It's the back up we need right now, are you willing to chance it?"

"I trust you"

"You probably shouldn't. Together" She cuddles in and I watch a few take a closer look. "I think they are starting to get better on their own"

"Unless you die, most people's bodies will kill off an intruding virus on it's own sooner or later. Our cure is going to help people get better faster, so we don't lose all of humanity"

"A few less losses at this point could be our only saving grace. Lets get you to that canister room." It gets harder the closer we get. Walking too close to the infected has some joining us, others watch me, waiting. It's creepy but there is this sense growing in me, that if I wanted too, I could make them all do what I asked. I tell them to get out of our way and to not attack Anissa. With this many behind us those closes to the doors bail on their post, another screamer is going full tilt but they listen to me more. I wonder why. I stand off to the side, protecting Anissa as the door opens. We are not surprised when the door opens and hordes of infected come crashing out. I'm screaming for help, turning some over as the two groups clash in the middle. I just push her into the corner, using my body as a shield while the two groups hash it out beside us, we get shoved a bunch and finally I call for more to surround us, so Anissa doesn't get hurt. My numbers are thinning down, so I call for a full battle crazy cry, we have to get into that room, failure is not an option. My group goes savage. I'm screaming for more reinforcements and few more turn to me. Someone screams from inside and a few switch back.

"You have to mean it" Anissa is looking over my shoulder, hands curled into my jacket holding me there. "You have to mean it, you have to issue an order. There mindless so if you don't give them a direction their actions will only be half asses." I muster the courage to scream out again. I was never one for giving orders, that always fell on Lucas's shoulders. I was the bottomless information pit. A hand reaches over and grabs her hair and I flip my shit, snarling out for blood. A fire is lite under my group and some kind of battle craze takes over, they are no longer holding back. They tear into the opposing group, a bunch switch to my side and I see an opening for her. I dive for it. Once inside the room I push her agents the wall, a memory comes to the for front of my brain. But not know, I help push our way to the center of the room. Teeth and nails sink in. Blood flows, but my goal is set, getting her to that control panel. Something snaps and comes crashing down. We are forced back. There is too many. My group is losing. I need something better then mindless masses. I shove us back and she protests this, we're almost there. Yaa, so are three screamers and half a dozen crazies. I can't compete with that, so I bail, screaming for a retreat. We went in with two dozen, four leave. Unacceptable losses. I storm back to the elevator, telling my four to gather more and meet back here. They wonder away, I'm hoping to find more. I hit top level button and I watch her eyes light up. "Your brothers"

"I hope they are awake." The door pings open and I see the army guys have an advancing group on our location. I scream at the new comers and they come to a halt, then back up as I release some frustration. A gun is pointed at my temple again

"Don't!" Anissa pulls on the arm but I stop what I'm doing, I can't lose it now. "He's gone enough to control them but still knows what needs to be done, he's looking for more skilled backup. I have to adjust the sleep aid manually but there is too many infected not listening to him to get to it."

"His family?" Bishop lowers the gun, then debates with himself for a moment. "Can he prove he's still in control"

"He's turning into a smart screamer, he won't let any of them hurt me"

Bishop snorts at this. "Somehow not surprised by that, here" He hands the keys over to Anissa. "They woke up about 20 minutes ago"

I raise my arms and scream at the incoming to not bother these humans. They back around the corners they crawled out from and I take off to the helicopters with Anissa at full speed. Anissa approaches yelling out her warning

"Incoming, don't shoot no matter what it looks or sounds like." An army guy pops his head around the corner and spots me first. "I said don't shoot!" He fires off a round anyway, with her standing in front of me I am not happy. Thankfully the bullet grazed the ground and not us. "Bishop sent us for his brothers"

I growl out at this and hear the cages rattle in response to my tone. "We don't have time for this"

"Half turned" The army guy pops his head out again. "I am at a disadvantage here. I know my orders was to keep them save, but a part of me want to run into battle for you." I finally get around the corner and see three pair of eyes looking at me, for once not like I'm a fast food option. I growl out again and three other pair of eyes lock onto my location. Even Amilia who turned last is ready to go. Yvonnna is bouncing in her spot, mouth taped shut, she's still a screamer. Mathew and Ryan are my crazies. Will they fallow me or out me for not being fully turned? I stick my arm out, into Mathews cage and he looks at it then back at me. Okay, I've gone far enough to be accepted by him. Ryan is showing increased agitation the closer I get to him, I hesitate sticking my arm in that cage and he knows it. He jumps at me, making me flinch back then starts screaming at me. I back away some more

"Mean it" Anissa looks at me. "He's the strongest, you need him to over power the others, so make him listen for a change"

Yaa, easier said then done. I try screaming at him to stop and listen to me but this only spurs him on more. He starts thrashing at his cage and am about to give up and head back with out him when Anissa sticks her arm inside the cage. I watch the gleam start in his eyes as we both jump towards her. Yvonna is screaming at me. Tell him to heed or else. Watching his hand wrap around her wrist, knowing he's going to hurt her pushes my last button. Stop. Now. He freezes arm part way to his face, he was going to bite her. "What were you thinking?"

"That your more motivated when I'm in danger." I grab at my hair and yank a few strands out.

"Sweet mother of gods are you crazy?"

"We're out of time, we need him. Make him calm down and release me"

I have to settle myself down, to not scream at everyone in general. Lucas stand cool and collected in his cage and makes me want to bash his face in. Your suppose to be mindless, not logically at this point buddy, your infecting wrong. Nelle and Sky are doing a better job of it, they look a little AFK at the moment. Yvonna struggles with her bonds, she wants out and she'll fallow if that's what it takes. Mathew is cool fallowing me. Ryan is still a challenge. It's all wordless screams and grunts to anyone else, Anissa looks more lost then the army guys. Two of them are shaking their heads, trying to clear the cobwebs. It's not a physic connection, its more like they understand on some basic level what I am trying to say.

\- Look Ryan, if you want out listen up, fallow my lead and give up the arm. -

\- But hungry. -

\- Later, right now we have a job to do. -

\- Not infected. -

\- She will be soon enough. -

He pauses at this, takes a closer look at her, smells the air and lets her arm go. He's the last one out of his cage.

\- Now fallow me and don't attack the non infected. -

They are not happy about this but listen, the army guys fallow behind us. Once more I need to tell the infected to back off from the elevator, Yvonna screams and they shuttle away from us. To be on the safe side Bishop informs me they may go down to the 3rd floor if this place gets over run, then fall back to the labs as a last resort. If that happens we are all s.o.l.

I grab my four guys, plus the near 2 dozen infected they rounded up for me. A crazy reaches for me and Ryan lifts him up by the throat, dangling him in the air while he gasp and gags clawing at nothing in front of him. I make Ryan put him back down, wind pipe intact, much to his distaste.

\- You can fallow me, get out of the way or die. Those are your options. We have something important to do. Getting the partly infected Anissa to the control station on the second floor. -

They fallow behind me, after my family I'm not too worried about the rest. It's a whole new side of cold for me, but we're down to the last days of humanity as we know it. I can say sorry latter, if there's a latter to say sorry too. Still, worry settle into my stomach like a lead weight. People are going to die again, and I'm leading the charge. I wonder if this is, to some degree, how Lucas felt leading us into tournaments hosted by other dojo's. Surely this is worse, back then he was under pressure to do his best and represent the dojo. To show off his skills in mock battles. I find it hard to breath, this is a very real battle, with very real death or life consequences. This is battle without fair play, rules and judges keeping score. Without medics on stand by encase of accidents. My thought was for better back up. Now I realize I put my family into a very dangerous station they may not walk away from, at an extreme disadvantage. Nelle and Sky are mindless, what was I thinking bringing them along, gone are the skills they showed in class. Gone is their grace and smooth moves. I watch Nelle almost trip on nothing and internally scream at this. If anything happens to her and we make it out alive Lucas will never forgive me. To my surprise Lucas help's Nelle find her footing without needing a prompt. To my left Ryan and Mathew are acting as meat shields in front of Yvonna and Sky. Even I am in front of Anissa. As we fast approach the doors I see more mindless waiting for us outside.

\- Protect each other! -

They grunt at me, but like always Lucas charges to the front, Ryan to his left and Mathew to his right. Sky and Nelle take up spots behind them while Yvonna starts bellowing out for reinforcements, Anissa stays back to guard her flank. I stay to protect them both as my brothers charge head first into battle. They are sloppy, but they are using their skills still... Mostly. Ryan has gone back to punching everything, but it works well for him. I can hear more feet coming in our direction. Yvonna bellows away and I hear a few screams start up inside the room before the big guys come barreling out at us. I figured they would target her. Ryan is not impressed when he see's who they are going after. He breaks rank leaving Nelle open to another brute. She goes down hard and I worry but the others seem to take up a protective stance around her. Was it my command, or does some human emotion and attachment still linger and effect their actions? The other mindless are not as concerned as they are, I guess a romantic relationship means more then a platonic work friendship. But yes, my people are helping each other. Picking each other up, helping an over whelmed friend. Helping to bring down an oversize opponent. We are winning. A hand shots past my face and grabs a hold of Anissa's hair dragging her down to the ground. Next thing I know Anissa is scooted back into a corner with her arms held in front of her face. Crying in terror scared face. I back away from her seeing the blood covered hand. I lost it for a moment there. Someone lays dead beside me and I shrivel in on my self, what have I done.

"Darin!" She lunges towards me as teeth sink in. Yvonna flips out, taking off down the corridor, Ryan hot on her heels. When he tackles her I know I lost control of him.

-Ryan! Get back here now!-

He bellows at me. Oh, I see what he was doing now. Some little guy was hanging off Yvonna's back, going for her neck.

-Never mind- I get a side attitude glare that is just so him I'm left speechless for the moment it takes someone to wrap their hands around my neck. I gag as Anissa screams, trying to give me some breathing room

"Lucas!" She's screaming at him, but he's not able to fully understand her, she hasn't turned enough yet. Blackness creeps in on the edges. I slap my hand to the floor, trying for some leverage to break this hold. Something, anything. "Mathew?" I look up and see my baby brothers eyes in my face, but his screams mean nothing to me. Shit I lost him. "Yvonna!" I watch her turn to face us, see whats going on and do nothing. I can't turn them on him, I need to break this grip. Damn, when did Mathew get this strong?

-Help me- It's garbled but it's enough. Lucas kicks Mathews arm down and away from me as Yvonna screams at him to get back into line. He shakes his head, I add my voice to Yvonna's. He backs away.

-come on bro, stay with us- With a finally head shake he's screams once more make sense to me.

-Sorry-

Interesting. In a way screamers are controlling the infected. Very interesting indeed. "Anissa" She looks at me, then helps pull me up. "I couldn't understand Mathew when he was taking orders from the other side"

"We need to amplified Yvonna's screams. Both your screams" She hands a recorder to me and off I go to Yvonna's side. Slightly off we manage to scream the same orders out before I give it back to Anissa. This side of the door is under our control, so I leave it up to Lucas to keep it under our control. Divert Ryan and Yvonna into bringing more reinforcements while I help Anissa back to a loud speaker that every floor has. I only hope it still works. It takes me way too long to Jerry rig the wires together, I'm less focused.

"Here" I hand her the tools. "I need to find a room to hide in"

"No, not yet. I can't control them, they won't listen to me with you gone"

"Darin" my head wipes around to see Kandace looking at me. "You weak shit, don't you dare give in now. Not when we are so close" She's piratically foaming at the mouth

"You most definitely need to find a room to hide in"

"Not yet" She crawls her way down the hallways, arm torn to shreds. Lab coat is tattered, pants ripped, even her shirt is torn away and covered in blood. She grabs a hand full of my shirt and yanks me dangerously close to her face. "Not yet"

I blink when it finally sinks in. "Not yet" Just like my promise of together, it means I won't give in yet. I still got some fight in me. Anissa hits the play button on our reordering and it echos around us, back down the hallways we came from. Everything goes quite.

"Go, I'll keep hitting repeat" Kandace waves us on as we go to check out what is happening.

There all standing there. Staring at us as we walk right past them. Stop, echos around me again. The louder the scream, the more they pay attention. Even inside the room everyone has stopped, Anissa walks right up to that control panel without so much as a glance from the others. Stop echos again as a few shuffled to look at us. Anissa hits a few buttons, presses enter and we walk out.

"I can almost make sense of the words your trying to use" She looks at me as something hisses to our left. We keep walking, our family falls into line behind us. Once at the elevator I hand the reordering over again. "But"

"It's not safe for us to return. Shoot to kill on sight, remember? I am losing what's left of me, please go before I hurt you." I usher my family into the room right beside us, smoke billowing from the air vent. "Get to safety and make sure the army doesn't mess this up again."

"Bishop's not so bad. I'll come find you if I feel the need too." She leaps into my arms, squeezing for all her worth before breaking away without a backwards glance. Fleeing from me. She hits that elevator running as I slip into the room.

-Rest. She'll handle everything else- I slump to the floor watching the world spin on me, no wonder you toss your last meal at the very end. Everything hurts, I can't focus on a single thing. Colors are swirling then going grey, then finally blackness takes over.


	20. Chapter 20

"Are you sure it's safe?" Bishop is getting on my nerves already.

"Yes" I should be more friendly but I can't help it. I am on edge. I triple checked all the findings. It has to work.

"You said that last time, I am down another man"

"There are bound to be a few rejections. Everyone reacts differently" He gives me that look and I side glance at his man. Blood tinged foam dripping out of his mouth. "Okay that's an extreme reaction. Every other test subject is doing better." I point to the new guy in the lab coat. He is still sick but recovering. Maybe a second dose will get ride of the rest of it. I want to hurry this along but I need to make sure and know who is and who isn't going to react so badly. I need to make sure they are going to get better, not die on me. "Do we know if he was allergic to anything?"

"Negative" Bishop takes up his lazy army man stance. Sorry, at ease stance. His legs are shoulder width apart, hands clasped behind his back, gun holster still not snapped closed. He may look at ease, but I know he's half a heart beat away from pulling that gun and aiming it at my head. I look over at Darin, content to chill in his observation room. I have never seen him so relaxed before, he lounges in his corner, screaming at Yvonna screaming at him. A smile sneaks in around the corners. Even now Nelle give the best droll stare at whatever their arguing about. Sky is kicking a skateboard around, she tried to get on it the other day. She fell off and seems reluctant to get back on it. Mathew and Ryan are banging on their side of the window. and I threaten to push the button that makes them go to sleep for 8 hours. They know that button so they back off getting grumpy with me. I tried placing them all in the same room, mostly for some company. But infected don't think about holding back, so for sanity and decency everyone gets their own rooms. There is a room ready for me beside Darin's. A glance at the clock shows it's almost bed time. If my eyes get any redder there going to start bleeding. So every time I wake up and can answer without screaming they open my door. Bishop fallows me around, gun ready to go. It's got a warning shot in it first fallowed by trank darts. No more lethal shots allowed. We got the infected back under control in this building. By the end of the next day the compound was ours and as safe as it was. The infected hang out on the second and third floors, separated into groups of who has what strain. Bishop managed to track down a few more survivors, finding a government official in the fray. Turns out there are still a few cdc building still open and functioning. We get to report in at the end of every day, to see how everyone is coming along.

"Sabb compound, do you copy?" I flop into my chair and slid it across the floor

"Sabb compound copy's"

"Oh it's good to hear your still with us Anissa"

Erma, bless the girls heart, is also nearly gone to the infection. "And It's good to hear your still with us. Have you got a hold of the others yet?"

"Just 2 and 3, four is not responding, but they are on a different time zone. Wanna bet they forgot the two hour difference again?"

"Oh you know I'm game for that, it's easy money by now." We have a good chuckle at the boys over there. "Any good news yet?"

"Sorry, I was hoping you came up with something"

"Nothing solid yet" This is not my field, but with Chole here I'm starting to understand more.

Some people are curing themselves, Cure might be the wrong term. They are t fighting off the infection but they tent to do that like Chole did, smack dab in the middle of infected hive like area. So we got teams out looking for them, grabbing whoever shows their faces. This compound and all 4 cdc buildings still open are starting to fill up with half infected people that are winning the battle on their own. With daily samples we are piecing this puzzle together much faster. A few subjects have died, I side glance at the man. He was turning into a brute. Unlike Mathew and Ryan, most brutes are not trainable into not smashing everything around them. For safety reason we often have to put them down, but if caught in time we offer a change at the enzyme, to see if that helps. It's a hit or miss thing these days. An alarm sounds to my left, it's bed time. "Gotta go Erma. Stay safe, talk to you tomorrow okay. Sabb compound out"

"You two, cdc one out"

I put the phone down, save my report and shut my computer down. Chole types a report out but waves me off for the night. Thankfully it's no longer a one finger salute. I test the recording before opening that door. It is weird to see Darin react to his own command, but he always pauses whenever I play it. No he wont' attack me, I am on the cusp of being like him. It's more for Bishop's safety then mine. I give him a hug, he gives me one back. It's almost as tight as it use to be. I whisper good night and close the door behind me again. Tears still falling two weeks later. He looks so confused when I pop into the room beside him instead of staying. Switching between looking at me and the spot beside him. Lucas and Nelle do the same thing. Yvonna and Ryan lean on the same wall, as if pretending their back to back. Sky and Mathew lay down in their beds but make sure to stay within eye sight of each other. The hissing sound lets us all know what's coming and we seem to accept our fate. Only Darin stays standing these days, the rest are already on the floor or in their beds when the sleep aid gas hits us. I know what happens next. A whole host of would be nurses storm our rooms after we're asleep. They jab needles in and get to work. A bag of water, some liquefied vitimes and other assorted nutrients are feed to us first. Next some medicine. Finally another does of water. If we're lucky we get a sponge bath too. Well I won't, if I wake up I get a shower if I don't then I'll get a bath the fallowing night.

As always I am shocked to wake up. Bishop taps on my door, I tap back, he opens it with recorder in one hand trank dart gun in the other. I already have my arms up in surrender. He lowers the gun first, recording second and out I shuffle to spend another day staring at germs on a microscopic level. This is so boring, how did Darin ever find it fascinating? I shove a cup of coffee in Choles direction, getting a grumbled thank you before she starts chugging it back. Second gulp down she pauses and looks at me.

"How did you get this?"

I smile to myself. "Special delivery, curious of Rodney, came in last night" I answer

"God sent" She picks her mug back up, taking several minutes to savor the smell this time. She had a favorite special raspberry flavored latte she loved to death back at school. I asked the aforementioned boy to keep an eye out for it. Guess he found a store that still had some stock in it. I know it will put a smile on her face for a few days. She was sad to hear about the guy she sent our way, but understands what we had to do. So when I saw her blushing at the army guy's direction, and the army guy drawn right back I decided to help them out. Like clock work when he's around, he shows up at noon to see if she would like to join him for lunch. No matter what's going on she joins him. There's a whopping 4 years age difference, but I don't think that bothers either of them. He's more then happy to let her play damsel in distress while he talks the big talk of recusing Innocent people and saving the day. Something Darin hatted was flashy talk, she swoons for that shit. She's walking out of the room when my world spins and I crash to the floor.

"Anissa?" Chole is helping me up. "Is everything blurring together?"

"Yes" my legs give out and her new man hauls me up into his arms and marches me past Bishop. He looks upset

"One last visit?" He asks me

"It's not safe"

He pulls out the recording. "Close enough"

Bishop yanks the door open, Darin's half way across the room when he spots me, completely ignores his own command for a change and falls on me. The tightest hug he can muster now makes it hard to breath, but he backs away without needing any prompts. Once more back in my room he's already pressed his face into the glass, trying to keep an eye on me. I glance around at the others. They are all paying close attention to me right now. They know.

"Chole?" Bishop looks at her watching this.

"I got it" She answers, she holds the recording up as everything swirls and goes black on me.

It's a bunch of grabbed screams to me know, but I know what the command is. Anissa didn't eat much for breakfast, so I play the command to stop and she halts mild lung at me. Darin is watching me, face and hands twitching for a weapon he no longer has. Even know he's trying to defend her. I gentle place Anissa on her bed then clean up her mess, helping to clean what got on her as well. I came too covered in my own vomit. It was gross. So I made the sponge baths a thing as soon as I could. A clean person is a healthier person. Anissa backed me up on it and Bishop made it happen for us. Plus it gives people something to do, so many where sitting around all day doing nothing. Then we had a flood of people asking for other jobs to do around here. There's a temporary shelter area on the other side. Someone found some sports equipment so a few occupies their time playing and watching others over there. Some are being diverted to help with search and rescue. Some are getting basic training in then given a trank gun to help bolster numbers around here. It's working, we're getting better. More organized and starting to act like humans again. We finally made it to our lunch.

"Will I ever compare to Darin?"

This is not the first time he has asked me this question. "Darin is... something special, even if he doesn't always know it. But grade wise I doubt it, he is a genuine genius. In other ways you out class him" Anissa shoved him in my face and I'm trying to take the hint. He means well, he try's hard... okay, he's supper hot too. He has a steady job and level head on his shoulders. He likes me, crazy bitch face in the morning without my coffee side too. I'm about to shove another mouth full in when Bishop slams down beside me. I swear I jumped 30 feet into the air and screamed so loud I could have woken the dead. I grab my chest feeling my heart rate rapidly spike while air seems hard to come by. Rodney has a scowl on his face, it's aimed at Bishop for the time being. "Some warning will you!"

"Now where's the fun in that?" He gets this grin on his face and I wonder if I am still infected. This urge to smash his face into the table almost overwhelms me. "Here" He hands me some print outs and I'm less then impressed with him, this could have waited till I got back... No, no he was right to track me down.

"No way" I'm out of my seat and racing back across the compound leaving them eating my dust trail. I scream at the poor guys standing guard there, "Open that elevator!" one jumps to hit the button for me, paperwork and lab coat flying behind me I slam into the wall, Rodney and Bishop right behind me.

"So I was right, that's good news"

"This was what she was looking for!" I wave the paper work in their faces. "It's all black and white now. She decoded the original virus. We can apply this to the mutation strained, single out the right proteins and enzymes, we could fix this. For good" I stab at the last floor button hoping to go faster even thought I know that doesn't work. I slink thru the still opening doors scrapping my arm and race down the hallways screaming for the others to get out of my way. They jump to the side and flatten themselves out agents the walls. These hallways are big enough for four or five of us to walk abreast, there is no need for that but I am thankful anyway. I end up bouncing off a few corners in my hast before crashing thou the right doors. I jump into my seat and wait the 5 seconds for my screen to wake up. My fingers fly across the keyboard, my eyes stare unblinking at the screen, face inches away. Come on, come on work! According to the calculations we have the missing piece. I try not to get too excited, it has said this before. Test, we need to run a test. I slam down on that print button. Shortly after I'm faxing a copy off to cdc one. Then I'm back across the room screaming for help into the inter com, any lab help I can get my hands on. I back track watching Bishop and Rodney standing their staring at me. "Thank you" I hug Bishop, man he looks so awkward whenever I do that. I launch myself at Rodney "Your the best"

"I don't understand a thing going on in here, why don't I go look pretty somewhere else and stay out of your way"

"Like I said, the best. Go look good somewhere else if you must but stay safe"

"Go pretty boy, she needs to work now and so do you" Bishop waves him out the door and I'm left with my thoughts. I raise the shield to see most of them staring at each other. The first few times I opened the viewing window I was creeped out by it.

One of the best things about Rodney, is how he lets me take center stage. Darin, for better or worse always took it, even if he didn't mean too. I'm a stage hog, I'll admit it. I want to be loved for my brains, admired for my skills. It's hard to be first class when the boy next to you makes you look like an idiot. I was competing with him on everything and it was starting to drive me crazy. I started acting crazy around Darin. There is no competition with Rodney and I find my mood has improved because of it, and with that I feel more like myself again. I'll take the hint Anissa shoved in my face and try again with Rodney. In watching Darin watch over Anissa even while infected has proven what I already suspected. My own parents turned on each other, my brother went for my neck. There was too much competition in my house and not enough love.

"Good news sir" Bishop turns to the man standing at the door, I pause what I'm doing to listen in. "We found them"

"Excellent, how are they doing?"

"Scrapped up, a little malnourished but still with us." He hands a file over with a pair of Polaroid shots showing face's I know a little too well. Good, he's doing right by this family and finding their missing pieces. He spots me looking and hides the files behind his back. I go back to working.

All too soon I get a phone call from Erma. "CDC one calling, do you copy Sabb compound?"

"We copy CDC one"

"Chole it's good to hear your voice again, hows my girl Anissa doing?"

"She turned this morning" there's a long pause and a sigh before she comes back on.

"Guess we we're lucky she lasted that long"

"A whole month, Darin thought she only had a week or two left. Anyway I'm assuming you got my fax?"

"Indeed we did, running some tests now. It's so exciting that Anissa was onto something and sad she won't be able to see it through"

"Well if she's right she'll see the end results"

"Fingers crossed. I'm sending a copy to 2, 3 and 4. I was checking to see if there was anything else to add to this"

"Negative. I sent the moment I had that, running my own test here but it won't be ready till tomorrow morning earliest"

"Ok, CDC one out then"

"Sabb compound out" I hang the old school phone up and get back to typing out possible formulas again. Ryan gets a bit uppity on me, Mathew is waiting for orders. It's odd, like this Ryan seems to be in charge not Lucas. Is it because Lucas is a mindless mass or is it because he doesn't see Lucas as in charge of him to being with. Watching what I could of the surveillance video showed Ryan tentatively fallowing Darin. But that may have been because Yvonn was willing too. There's a large gap missing in the feeds. They all vanish from view, return, argue then head back into battle. Anissa refused to say what happened in those finally moments. Keeping what happened after Darin turned to herself. I love science, always have. What I dislike about it, is how long it takes to get much of anything done. Hours, days, weeks, sometimes even months. Their first two formulas didn't work, had I not been found that would have been it for this compound. And everyone inside it. Maybe even the whole world. I flip through the old journal belonging to some guy named Gorge, spotting new writing belonging to Darin in the left over side margins. George was a messy writer. Darin kept going back to this page, certain there was something important in all this but I'm not seeing it. I rub at my eye sockets, feeling tired already. Even Anissa marked this page as important. Indeed, confirmed, samples needed. What does it all mean, what we're they agreeing with. So what the heck did they see that I missed. I'm left with a headache, blankly staring at the page when Rodney comes to collect me for the day.

"Interesting" He taps at the page in front of me

"What?"

"It's in code, a crude one at best but..."

I jump up, wrapping my hand around his color to drag him closer to me half shouting in his ears "Can you read it for me? I don't do riddles and puzzles like that"

"Oh, sure" He picks the book up smiling to him self. "Anything to help my lady out. It all starts with Y. Not sure what this fello means by that"

"Y chromazone!" I jump out of my seat almost knocking him out of my way I dash across the room and hit phone going full tilt. "CDC one do you copy?... CDC one pick up"

It's a bit garbled on the other end but Erma picks up for me "CDC one here, What's wrong Sabb compound?"

"It all starts with Y. This has something to do with the Y chromazone. Darin, Anissa, this Gorge guy all thought the same thing"

"I'll spreed the word around then." It's all static on her end now as I flop back over

"Ok, supper time" Rodney pulls me back up. "Then straight to bed with you, you look ready to fall over again. Your getting sick again aren't you?"

"I can't give up now"

"Yes you must" Rodney pulls me out the door. "Getting sick a second time is bad, people start foaming at the mouth like rabid animals. They die shortly after too. Your no good to human kind or your friends if your dead." He has a point, so I straighten up and walk with him.

2 weeks latter

"Are you sure about this?" Bishop looks at me as I nod my head yes.

"Positive. All test's came back clean." It's been a busy body jumping hub of activity around here since that day. But finally, I get to test this out. Fingers crossed I jab the needle into my patients arm. He's out cold at the moment but I figure it's best this way. In the event that this doesn't work he'll pass in his sleep, it should be relatively painless. Seconds and minutes tick on by with nothing to show for it. I can feel Bishop getting antsy. Rodney stands by with a loaded gun, just encase.

"That's what you said last time, at least this one's not foaming at the mouth 5 minutes in and trying to tear your throat out"

"There was a minor adjustment needed"

"Tell that to my man that died"

"He was already on the verg of death. Anyway, with the way you wave guns around I'm surprised he wasn't shot sooner."

"How long is this going to take?"

"Less then an hour, give the body some time to start circulating the antibodies around. Then it needs to start the healing process, we may need a second dosage"

"I was hoping for something faster"

"And I was hoping for a pony when I was five." He grunts out at me, trigger finger getting twitchy. "Cool your jets, if he was going to go rabid on us he would have done it by now. Science, real life science takes time, there is no insta fix to this." I do my best not to watch the clock but as an hour draws near even I start to get fidget. Then the man before me groans, hand going for his head, he turns to the side and tosses his lunch. I'm worried at first but he flops back over and looks at me.

"What happened to me?" He blinks getting a better look at me. "Was I any good last night?"

"No" My lips pucker at this, typically collage student b.s.

"Damn, maybe I can make it up to you later"

"No" I pull back as Rodney sets his sights on the poor guy

"No, that is most definitely not happening"

"Sorry dude!" The poor guy tries to shoot away from us. "I didn't know she had a man already"

"You we're infected" I answer as Bishop comes around with another needle for me. "I need to take samples to see how your body is reacting to the antibodies I gave you, with any luck we have this virus beat"

"Wait, I was infected!" The guy looks at himself and panics seeing the blood covered clothes. "Oh man, who did I hurt, I didn't kill anyone did I? Oh man that's a lot of blood on me...Wait, you found a cure?"

"So far yes, I need those samples" I reach for his arm that he happy gives over to me.

"Anything else I can do to help?"

"Not at the moment, don't go far. I may need more samples" He winces with the needle going in and as I draw blood. "Is that painful?"

"Not really, I just don't like needles"

I nod in understanding, I use to hate the things but I've gotten better. The phone goes off and I know it's Erma calling to find out the results. I leave Bishop to field her bazillion questions as I slip another slid under the scoop. Bring everything into focus and get excited. The antibodies are going savage on the left over virus on this strip. But it's too soon to call victory yet. Last time we thought we had it the virus turned the tide in it's favor again, beating back the cure we thought we had. It needs to be perfect before I try it on the others.

"Now, is this going to work for all of them, of just this one strain?"

"I'm working on it Bish"

"Don't call me that"

"Whatever you say Bish"

"I'm not sure if your brave, stupid or crazy calling him that." Rodney looks horrified at my name calling his superior officer like that. Bish get's over it fast enough, he always has. Anyway it's another three days of testing before I dare to try this on Darin. That first guy is making a full recovery, all signs of the virus are gone. Any attempts to re-infect his blood on a strip epic-ally fail.

"Darin?" I wait for something, anything. Even a snarl in my face would do. He throw up so why isn't he coming too yet?

"Give him some time Chole" Rodney pulls me back a bit more. "He was infected for a long time, plus he already had your enzyme working on it. Maybe that is working agents him right now"

"No" Darin shifts over and throws up again, crocking out "It seems to be working"

"Darin!" I toss myself at him, he try's to back up but isn't strong enough right now. "Oh thank god"

"Umm, Chole I can't get any clearer on this..."

"Oh shut up you moron" He's at least startled by my words, even if only for a second or two. "Anissa next" This grabs his attention

"Anissa"

"She's fine. Mostly" I stand up and he see's the room he's in finally.

"Oh I turned" He blinks at Anissa on her side of the glass wall. He try's crawling towards her but she backs away hissing at him.

I always thought seeing him hurt over her would bring me some form of comfort. It does not, and I feel sorry for him. My voice goes soft seeing his eyes grow big at the rejection. "She thinks your unfriendly now. Wait till I give her this, that'll make her all better"

"It's three different strains." He's only half paying attention to me, too busy trying to keep her in sight as sleeping gas fills her room.

"We know" I can't help the dramatic yet irritated sigh that slips past me. "I read all your notes and side margin ideas. I combed over that journal as much as you did. But this is working on everybody because it's attacked the main source."

"You isolated the right compounds"

"Nope, we're going straight to the dnd and ripping it apart from the inside out. Trying to isolate parts of it only resulted in the virus going crazy on us, making the infected go insane. Foaming at the mouth and everything. So we're tearing it apart molecule by molecule"

"Long term effects?"

"A dead virus." He gives me that annoyed evil eye. "We haven't had it long enough to see long term effects. But it can't be any worse then this"

"I'm sure that's what the people we're thinking when they made it"

Bishop tiskes at us. "No, it was always meant to be used in war."

"So the idiots made something they couldn't control and let it free?"

"No" We wait for him to explain but he stands there at attention looking back at us with those stupid sunglasses on... inside a building with low lighting. He's trying too hard in my option.

"Latter, I want to see Anissa"

"You have to wait at least an hour"

"Why so slow?"

"That's what I said"

"And you should know better. We're going in a circle unless you want to hand pick the next person"

"Lucas" He looks the other way at his brother on the far side. "Yvonna has been infected the longest, I wish to see how it will react personal before giving her something that may overwhelm her system"

"and that's why I said to wake him up first." I never thought about what it may do to someone system if they had been taken over for an extended period of time.

It's not long before he's up and in motion, unstable but he's as stubborn as ever. He almost falls into the chair but his face is pressed into that scoop as far as he can get, slipping a slid into place. He watches for a long time making me nervous. Then angry and finally back to worried. Did I make a mistake? Did he fall asleep on us? Can he sleep sitting with his face pressed into a scope like that? This is Darin, I would not be surprised in the least if it turns out he could sleep sitting up with his face smashed into a scope. He leans back with a nod. "You should be good to go, but I would suggest a smaller dosage first, to make sure we don't shocker her system."

I take it and run with it. Ryan is waiting, most impenitently for my return. "Blame Darin for taking so long" I bark at him before opening the door. He lunges at me but not fast enough. Yvonna comes flying out screaming full force and tackles me to the floor. My head connects and I feel sick but Ryan grapples and wins. Yvonna is stuck in his grasp as Anissa stabs the needle home for me. Then turns her attention on me, checking to make sure I'm okay. "Well that was stupid of me"

"It happens to the best of us at times. How is Darin doing?"

He answers coming down the hallway. "Exhausted." She's up and running towards him with impressive speed. They collide and only Rodney keeps them from hitting the floor. Once he's sure their stable he comes to help me up. Yvonna is busy upchucking at the moment. Mathew did that for a long time, I can only guess she'll be at it even longer. Once the virus is dead the body can't seem to wait to get it out as fast as physically possible. Often violently to boot. "That's one heck of a mess, who's the poor bastard that has to clean that up? Hmm, the longer it's inside the host the more it replicates. She's been infected for like 3 months now"

"Five" I correct him. "You were infected for almost two months, Anissa only a few weeks. Who by the way missed seeing her results come back positive by mere hours"

"Oh come on!" She wails out at this. "Hours? That's it?"

"Two if you really want to know"

"No, not really"

"Erma is waiting to hear from you"

"I'll move it to the top of my list then"

"Food first." Bishop stand guard over us all, looking unimpressed with Yvonna still spewing on us. Damn the world is going to be a gross place for a long time.

"Don't take her vomit habits into high account, she can spend hours on a good day with not much to show for it." Nelle leans on the wall and I watch Ryan debate with himself. Does he keep Yvonna restrained or help Nelle before she crashes? To my not shock Lucas is already stable on his feet and able to help her. Like he was never infected to begin with. I narrow my eyes thinking about it. He hardly had anything in his system.

"Explain" I point at Lucas while looking at Darin.

"Oh, he was almost turned on us, got better then got a dose of your enzyme after partly turning on us a second time. He then got better before his epic fail and fall into infection life"

"He already had antibodies going. That explains why he keep throwing up even while infected. Samples" I reach for a needle and have to wait for Rodney to fetch some for me. Lucas stands there holding his arm out while I take as much as I want. At least until Darin makes me back off. "You know the others will want samples too"

"Others?" Darin looks between Anissa and me.

"CDC has four outpost all working on this as well. With these samples we may be able to create something that works faster, or at least results in less spewing." I side step around Yvonna, who has blissfully stopped and passed out on us. "You did more then your fair share of the work, let the rest of the world handle what's left." We place Yvonna back inside her cage just encase, I had off the samples to a lab assistant and head out for lunch. To say they are shocked at the number of people floating around is mild. "We currently have 6,254 people living here. CDC one has over 9,000 alone. Lots of people avoided becoming fully sick or fraught there way back to being healthy. And after you have been infected and recovered via nature the infected don't always attack you."

"Reminiscence are left masking the sense." Darin hits the nail on the head again. "So how long is this going to take?"

"Probably years for recovery"

"I meant lunch"

"One hour" Bishop answers him. "It take time to get lunch, everyone has to wait in line."

"This is not the cafeteria" Darin pokes at bishop's arm as we walk out into the temporary tented area. Standing in line sucks, but when Bishop ask's for 7 back orders the whole cafeteria gets quite. "No it is not, this will have to do till we clear floors 2 and 3. We only had a few till this group. That's a lot of people to bring back all at once."

"It should be 8" Ryan grumps at this, he doesn't look impressed with his oatmeal. "I'm starving"

"You won't be for long" I chuckle at him. "You've been on a mostly liquid diet for 3 months. Your stomach will have shrunk, just like your muscle mass." his head wipes around and his face sours after finally taking his arms into account. Notably smaller. I'm not sure how much muscle mass he loss, but his shirt doesn't hang right anymore, he's probably pissed at this.

"Half a diet for half a year tends to do that" He pulls at the shirt sleeve as he sits down. "I need protein"

"The real test is if you can keep this food down. Some are not able to do that."

"That's why their waiting and watching." Lucas scarves his down, his stomach complains part way through but he keeps it up. "I'm tired and want a nap"

"Before that, we have a side trip to take. We found some missing family pieces I'm sure you wish to check on." This makes them all hurry up and we leave to cheers. So far so good.

Darin makes me pause shortly after leaving. "So what happens if any of us upchuck again after eating?"

"You'll need a booster shot to make sure the virus is gone. If you don't get it fast enough you'll die"

"Good to know. How long does it take..." We all pause as Ryan goes a dark shade of green. "Did you over eat or?"

"I think I just over ate." Ryan slides down the wall looking pale as Bishop slides to the side, and radios for a booster shot. I am currently carrying 8 booster on me but won't say no to another one. He's looking better by the time the nurse get's to us, but out of habit we give him it to him anyway. Then we have to make a stop at the nurses station to sign him in. He gets placed beside his dad and mom, who don't look impressed with him. "Hey at least I made it out the other side without any new holes"

"It is a valid accomplishment for him." Lucas sits down between his mom and dad's bed. "So what happened to you too?"

"It is a long and frankly boring story" His dad studies his bed sheets for a moment.

So Bishop answers for them. "We found him stuck in partly caved in building. Your step mother was out finding supplies to keep him feed while trying to dig him out from the other side."

"You are so busted, i'm not sure what for but busted all the same" Ryan lays down looking green again. "I'll be fine"

"You so over ate didn't you"

"...maybe"

"That's what I thought" Anissa thumps into her own bed before looking at Bishop "My parents?"

"... Still uncounted for"

"Yvonna's family?" Ryan cracks an eye ball open to watch Bishop pace for a moment.

"...Deceased. It would seem the bother turned, killed the mother and step dad was caught in the cross fighter taking the compound back. Real father was buried some time ago."

"Wait" Lucas looks up at this. "Taking the compound back?"

"Yes it was over run with infected when we got the emergency call from Darin via a little girl named Haille. She's alive and well in case your wondering, she's playing in the park grounds most days if you wish to go see her." Both nod once sharply at this "Miss Sabb and her father are still uncounted for but should be on the second floor. That was their last known location."

Lucas holds his head, slowly bending over to the floor. "I think I remember that. You have to mean it, thou I'm not sure what or who or why that rings a bell"

Anissa raises her hand, asking to speak "That's Darin. He was turning into a smart screamer, he was issuing orders that Ryan wasn't taking, Yvonna was on the fence. Mathew started taking orders from the other side. There was a massive brawl to get to the control panel that allowed us to vent the sleeping aid to everyone on the 2nd and 3rd floor. That allowed us to take the compound back. From there we started venting it outside to make the infected dazed and confused. Then it was a simple matter of rounding everyone up to the two floors. That's where everyone is know. Along with the cafeteria, maybe not the best plan but it works well."

"Why is most of this compound under ground?" Mr. Harlan looks at us, but honestly we have no idea. This is not a satisfactory answer apparently. But it's back to work for me so I ditch Bishop to the task of bringing them all up to speed. Their a testy bunch when left out of the loop.

I'm walking back to the observation room when there's a loud crash from withing Yvonna's room, accompanied by ragging screams. Odd, she never showed much aggression before. So I slip the little viewing area open to remind her. "Yvonna tantrums don't help, don't make me use the sleeping gas on you again, Ryan's gonna get..." I scream out when she full body slams on the door and her hand reaches out for me.

"Chole! Get me out of this room"

"Calm down!" I back up holding my chest feeling my heart thump into my rib cage at a million miles a minute.

"I will not! Get me out of this room or Ryan will have to wait till I'm done with you. Have you been drugging me or something? Why am I here, how long have I been here, why are you using sleeping gas on me?"

"Not you, my heart" I suck in some more air. "And if you keep talking like that I'll leave your ass in there for the others to find you, probably some time tomorrow"

"What did you do to the others, where's Ryan?"

"I cured them, he's in the hospital wing because he's not feeling well and visiting with his parents."

"Cured" She pauses and takes a step back, sounding much calmer already. "I turned, that's why I was in here, for safe keeping. If you cured them then they also turned at some point in time"

"Yes, but so far everyone is okay. You were infected the longest so I need to run a few test and give you a booster shot to make sure we got rid of everything or you may turn a second time." I really hate repeated myself, maybe I should just record it and press play after people wake up.

"Fine, lets get that test over with, I want to see everyone for myself"

"Are you calm now?" I ask approaching the door with caution.

"About as calm as I'm going to get stuck in here"

It's not much but I'll take it at face value. I check to see her far away from the door before opening it. She waits till It's all the way open and for me to signal her to come out. There's no sudden movements, no jerking around, she's relatively calm and working with me so I resist the urge to stab a needle full of sleep aid into her arm. Why piss her off if I can avoid it. I find myself repeating the whole story that I know, she fills in some blanks and we wait for the results to come back. She's clean and we're good to go find the others. There still in the hospital wing so I ditch her at the door and make a break for the labs once more. There's a lot of cheering at her return and someone was yelling at Ryan to get back into bed before he makes himself sick again. Either Ryan ignored this without protest of did as he was told.

My face is pressed into a scoop when Darin knocks on the door. "So, what did I miss?"

"The boring stuff" He waits but I don't give him anything else.

"Ok" He walks away finally and I'm confused. What was the point of all that? It's not till supper time that I understand. Rodney is playing tough with him, trying to prove he's a better care taker of me. I sigh in frustration.

"Rodney, leave the poor guy alone he just came back to us this morning. I'm sure he's in no shape to fight anyone right now."

"So you think this dork could take me?" Rodney, sweet as pie normally, not much brighter then the average joe around here.

"At full strengthen I would be surprised if he didn't. It's not an attack on you dear, just saying he doesn't need guns and over sized muscles to kill someone." Rodney flexes for me, dang it. It always draws my attention to places it shouldn't go.

Bishop agrees with me. "Leave that family alone, you won't like them backed into a corner and spitting' mad"

"Besides" Kandace gets up from the table. "We own him everything"

"When did you..."

"I got better on my own, I already got a booster shot so put that away. If one more person sticks a needle into my arm I may rip theirs off. Dad is not going to be happy with what you've done to his compound by the way."

"He should be happy we didn't let anyone blow it up on him. It's mostly in tacked"

"But many repairs need to happen, it will take years and lots of resources"

"I don't think he needs to worry about that right now." Lucas taps out a message in morass code on the table. It grabs Rodney's attention but he's smart enough to pretend he doesn't know what's going on. I hope he tells me what it is latter. The rest come to heed and sit back down to enjoy their meals. Then it's off to bed, we have a shortage of rooms but they don't seem to mind sharing with each other. Bishop tried for girls in one and boys in another but it ends up being two couples per room. Their parents are moved in beside them a week later.

It's been another month, but finally we are ready to release the cure into the world. Anissa by my side, my family behind me. We march forwards drawing the infected out of their hiding holes. The infected get tranked by the army guys behind us. Then the medical teams are sent out to pick everyone up, give them a shot and move them to a secure location. Yvonna and Lucas's blood work had a few keys to unlock still, it helps make the transition easier now. But to be sure we got everyone we're doing it this way, even if it will take longer. I was hoping to be done but apparently I'm not. I had to beat Rodney up to get him to back off, then I had to deal with Chole about it. Then Bishop sent me out here, everyone else fallowed. We finally met Erma, she's a nice girl, insta friends with Amilia, turns out they we're planning on going to the same university.

After the dust settled those of us that would have graduated last year or this year we're given GED's after completing the test. Anissa picked a school she wanted to go to . Guess we're moving to Boston. It's going to be weird being away from everyone but her parents got us a nice condo to live in while we're there. Anissa got auto accepted into the medical school after they found out what part she played in the cure. I think Bishop and Mr. Sabb are pulling some strings for us still. I am unsure what I want to do anymore, so I'm taking a few years off school but have basically been told to pick what I want and the government that's reforming will cover the cost for me. Lucas and Mathew are going to Business school next, one to help dad better, one for his own shop idea. Ryan is unsure, so he'll chillin at the house and helping rebuild things with Crispin. Yvonna is helping Sky find balance in world without parents. Nelle finally admitted to not liking mma class, but will keep it up so Lucas can get off her back. She's heading to art school next after finding her mom still alive. Last I heard Chole was taking off with her new man to some remote location, she can't stand people right now. Kandace is focused on helping her dad rebuild, but like Chole is only taking a year or two off before going back to school to get degrees, why not when the government is paying for it. Also, everyone that ever helped solve this, even if they found nothing had their names cleared. I was happy to see Gorge, his mom and Lilly made it out alive. Mom and dad are adopting Haillie for us, it's going to be weird having a little sister but I'm looking forward to it.

There are staggering reports coming in still from around the world. Infected are still popping up on us, somehow still alive. The group that started all this are all dead, they didn't mean to start it according to the last thing recorded on their security tapes. There was an exposition on their private prosperity and home testing ground. They thought the government was trying to kill us with fake deceases. Poetic justice if you ask me that they perished by their own hands. Sometimes my ruthlessness worries the others, but Anissa sticks by my side. Still not telling what happened between their fall and taking back the compound. They don't need to known the messy details, just the happy ones we made for ourselves. For now I'll take my government guaranteed safety promise with a grain of salt. We're heading back to the farm and finishing up our upgrades, making the defenses automated so they can stay hidden underground unless there needed. We seem to be dooms day preppers now, we're thinking of adding a Bunker underground as well.

Oh, Lucas put a ring on Nelle's finger, I think the gears are turning in Ryan's head. Like Mathew I've put it on the back burner idea list, we're still a bit young but it will happen sooner or later for us too. I bet Haillie will make a cute flower girl.

The end


End file.
